Who Protects the Lloyd Aquifer?
The Sierra Club, LI Group, along with a number of other groups and individuals, is protecting the oldest and most pristine aquifer formation beneath Long Island, the Lloyd Aquifer. The Lloyd formation is over 50 million years old and the water in it is as much as 8,000 years old, nearly as old as the last ice age. Because the Lloyd Aquifer is at the bottom of the sequence of aquifer layers located beneath Long Island, it usually takes decades for water to reach and replenish it. And it takes thousands of years for water in the Lloyd to slowly migrate to the coastline where it discharges into the Atlantic Ocean or Long Island Sound. For the past 20 years, the Lloyd Aquifer has been protected by a state-imposed “moratorium” on drilling any new wells into it unless they are for use by “coastal communities.” Coastal communities are areas vulnerable to saltwater intrusion. When sea water moves inland, taking the place of fresh water in the aquifers, this is saltwater intrusion. By this proc
