The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to contribute half to a $3 million feasibility study of ways to clean up the Forge River, while Suffolk County and the Town of Brookhaven will pitch in the remainder.  

Congressman Tim Bishop championed legislation that authorized the Forge River study.Once the four-year study is completed, its recommendations for remediation will be presented to Congress for action. If approved, the river restoration project would be entitled to a mandatory 65 percent federal contribution, Eugene Brickman, deputy chief of the Army Corps, told the Press of Manorville.

The newly announced study is the latest result of efforts by the Forge River Task Force, which local government officials and environmentalists formed in 2005 in the aftermath of a massive fish kill, accompanied by discolored water and noxious fumes. A year later,  the Forge River was placed on the list  of "impaired waterways" in New York State, a dubious distinction that gave it priority for and access to cleanup funding.

Increased levels of nitrogen in the river water have been attributed to a variety of causes or combinations of causes, including overflows of septic systems and cesspools, storm water runoff and riverbed sludge left by duck farms.