Walter Dawydiak

Walter Dawydiak, P.E., J.D. serves as the Center’s Water Quality Development Liaison, advancing Center objectives in collaboration with various agencies and partners.  Walter Dawydiak served as Suffolk County’s Director of Environmental Quality for the last 14 years of his 36-year career with the Suffolk County Department of Health Services (SCDHS).  At SCDHS, he managed a staff of 160 professionals, conducting comprehensive programs addressing pollution control (wastewater, and toxics/hazardous materials), groundwater, drinking water, lab analysis, and freshwater and estuarine health.

Walter's tenure as Director was notable for successfully addressing emerging drinking water contaminants such as dioxane and PFAS, modernizing information technology systems, eliminating unacceptable permit processing backlogs, and championing the use of advanced wastewater treatment technologies.   Walter directed, managed, or coordinated every major environmental health plan developed by SCDHS between the 1980s and the 2020s, including the Brown Tide Study (1992), Peconic Estuary Program (now Peconic Estuary Partnership, commenced in 1993), Source Water Assessment Program (2000),  Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan (2015), and Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan (2020).  This work served as the technical foundation for  progressive Sanitary Code changes, as well as the newly formed Suffolk County Wastewater District and the voter-approved Water Quality Protection Act fund.  The fund will provide $3-4 billion to upgrade wastewater treatment systems to remove nitrogen and other contaminants, to finally arrest and reverse the trend of declining water quality in our region.

Walter graduated at the top of his classes at NJIT (Chemical Engineering) and Touro Law School (Juris Doctor).  Walter is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York State, is admitted to the NYS Bar, and is a registered agent for the US Patent and Trademark Office.  Walter taught Environment and Public Health at Stony Brook University for over a decade, and has earned numerous awards, including the prestigious USEPA Environmental Quality Award.  Walter enjoys spending as much time as he can on, and in, our local estuaries.  He has a passion for understanding, distilling, and advancing science and technology, with the goal of supporting programs and policies to benefit the public and the environment.