A mill and shipping town.
Wikipedia says the village, originally called Near Rockaway, began as a shipping and trading center because of its deep channels inland; Joseph Haviland built a grist mill on the Mill River under a 1688 land grant, and the Haviland–Davison Grist Mill in Memorial Park is on the National Register of Historic Places. The name changed to East Rockaway in 1869 and the village incorporated in 1900 with 969 people. It covers about 1.0 square mile, next to Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett, Rockville Centre, Lynbrook and Oceanside.
The Census Bureau's latest five-year survey counts about 4,100 homes, with a median year built of 1949. 29% went up in the 1950s, 39% before 1940, and 5% after 1980. 62% are single-family detached houses, 17% are two-family, 16% are in buildings of five or more units, and 79% are owner-occupied.
So a typical house here has drain and water lines around 77 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 75% of homes heat with utility gas and 16% 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.
On the sewer.
Nassau County's health department lists East Rockaway's sewers under the Nassau County Department of Public Works (516-571-6841). 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 the county at 516-571-6841.
Flood risk.
Laying FEMA's current flood map over the Census boundary, about 30% of East Rockaway is in the high-risk (1% annual chance) flood zone (29.5% in zone AE; 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: Liberty Utilities New York's Lynbrook system.
EPA's service-area map puts essentially all residents on Liberty Utilities New York's Lynbrook system; your bill is the final word. Liberty's 2026 report on 2025 water for its Lynbrook Operations District says caustic soda or lime raises the pH to cut corrosion of household plumbing and iron is filtered out at 13 of its 20 well sites; total hardness ran 4.2 to 58.6 mg/L, which is soft. Across the whole district, Liberty's state-filed inventory counts 3,700 lead service lines and 15,239 of unknown material, so if your house predates 1940 it's worth knowing what your service line is. In EPA's UCMR 5 testing, the main supplier's highest single PFOA/PFOS result was 5.1 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. For anything on your side of the meter, call us.
Permits.
East Rockaway is an incorporated village, so plumbing permits go through the Village of East Rockaway's building department, not the town.
