"A new Babylon" on the bay.
Wikipedia says that when a community took shape here by 1803, a local woman, Mrs. Conklin, proposed the name Babylon after the biblical city because of the area's rowdy reputation as a South Shore stopover, telling her objecting son, "But it will be a new Babylon." The area had been settled earlier as Huntington South. The village covers 2.8 square miles, about 12% of it water, bordered by West Babylon, North Babylon, West Islip and the Great South Bay; Wikipedia notes that many village homes and businesses had major flood and wind damage in Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012.
The Census Bureau's latest five-year survey counts about 4,800 homes, with a median year built of 1956. 27% went up in the 1950s, 26% before 1940, and 14% after 1980. 74% are single-family detached houses, 5% are two-family, and 79% are owner-occupied.
So a typical house here has drain and water lines around 70 years old unless they've been replaced. Slow drains in several fixtures, a gurgling floor drain or rusty water from one tap are signs to have the main line and supply piping checked. With so many pre-1940 homes, some still have galvanized or older supply piping in the walls; we plan repairs around what's actually there.
Oil to gas means new gas piping.
The ACS shows 66% of homes heat with utility gas and 24% with fuel oil. Switching means properly sized gas piping to the new equipment, and often to the water heater, range and dryer. We do the gas line work. We don't sell or deliver oil.
Mostly sewered.
Laying Suffolk County's sewer-district map over the Census boundary puts about 92% of the hamlet in the Southwest Sewer District (Sewer District 3). The rest is outside a district, where homes rely on cesspools or septic systems. Your tax bill shows a sewer district charge if you're in one. A backup that stops at your house is usually in your own line to the street; we clear it and repair or replace the line. If neighbors are backed up too, call Suffolk County DPW (Sewer District 3 / Southwest). If you're outside the district, the line runs to a cesspool or septic tank: we clear the line from the house, but a full or failing cesspool is a job for a cesspool or septic contractor, since we don't do cesspool work.
Flood risk.
Laying FEMA's current flood map over the Census boundary, about 32% of Babylon is in the high-risk (1% annual chance) flood zone (23.6% in zone AE, 4.6% in zone VE, 4.1% in zone A; shares of the Census area, water included). On a sewered street, a backwater (sewer check) valve on your house sewer line can keep a street-sewer backup from coming in through basement floor drains. We install them. If your water heater or gas appliances ever sat in flood water, have them checked before relighting.
Water: Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA).
EPA's service-area map puts essentially all residents on the Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA); your bill is the final word. In EPA's UCMR 5 testing, the main supplier's highest single PFOA/PFOS result was 17 parts per trillion. EPA's 4 ppt limits apply as a running annual average starting in 2029, so one high sample is not a violation, but it's the kind of number a carbon filter is sized against. For a leak at the curb or in the street, call your water supplier (SCWA: (631) 698-9500). For anything on your side of the meter, call us.
Permits.
Babylon is an incorporated village, so plumbing permits go through the Village of Babylon's building department, not the town.
