The Long Island Community Foundation has given Concerned Citizens of Montauk $20,000 to help fund its work to improve the hamlet’s water quality. 

The grant is the second the foundation has awarded C.C.O.M. in two years. Last year, the $20,000 grant helped advance C.C.O.M.’s Save the Lake-Save the Pond initiative, which engages property owners in a coordinated effort to reduce the human causes of water pollution. 

Wednesday’s statement about the grant followed C.C.O.M.’s May 14 announcement of a partnership with Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University under which Dr. Gobler’s lab will analyze water from Fort Pond in order to monitor harmful algal blooms, which appeared in 2015 and last year. Concurrently, the East Hampton Town Board is moving toward the creation of a wastewater treatment system, and a tax district to fund it, for the hamlet’s densely developed downtown, based on the belief that excessive nitrogen is causing the pond’s ecological woes.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Long Island Community Foundation,” Laura Tooman, C.C.O.M’s president, said in a statement last week. “L.I.C.F.’s funding helps make all that we do to protect Montauk’s environment possible. From our Save the Lake-Save the Pond educational initiative, to our latest partnerships to test and monitor for harmful pollutants and algal blooms in Fort Pond and Lake Montauk, this grant makes a huge difference.”

Kate Rossi-Snook, a C.C.O.M. environmental advocate, said the Save the Lake-Save the Pond initiative’s primary objective “is to get people to understand that everything they do on their properties has an effect, whether immediate or long term, on our waters.” 

In 2017, C.C.O.M. sponsored 170 septic system inspections and pump-outs. This year, Ms. Rossi-Snook said in a statement, “We will continue to encourage all Montauk residents and business owners who haven’t gotten their septics pumped in the last three years to do so, and to begin the process of upgrading their systems.” She said residents could follow incentives provided by the Town of East Hampton and Suffolk County, “and should visit our newly redesigned website to sign our Clean Water Steward pledge.” The Clean Water pledge can be found at SavetheLakeSavethePond.org. 

Update, 11:50 p.m.: Late Saturday evening, East Hampton Town police released the names of the people aboard the small plane that crashed off Amagansett Saturday afternoon. 

Bernard (Ben) Krupinski, an East Hampton custom home builder, his wife, Bonnie Bistrian Krupinski, and their grandson, William Maerov, 22, were passengers aboard the twin-engine Piper PA-31 Navajo, police said. Jon Dollard, 47, of Hampton Bays was identified as the pilot.

Mr. and Ms. Krupinski, both 70, were the owners of three East Hampton restaurants — the 1770 House, Cittanuova, and East Hampton Point — and, along with her family, of the East Hampton Golf Club. They were also well-known community supporters and philanthropists. 

Two of the bodies were recovered, while the other two are still missing. Town Police Capt. Chris Anderson said in a statement that police were withholding information on whose bodies had been found until confirmation from the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's office. 

The plane, owned by Mr. Krupinski, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean at 2:54 p.m. With four people aboard, the plane lost communication with the East Hampton Airport control tower and then failed to land at the airport. 

Private fishing vessels, the United States Coast Guard, and East Hampton Town Marine Patrol units joined in a search and located a debris field about 1.5 miles south of Amagansett's Indian Wells Beach a short time later, police said.

Captain Anderson said the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the crash. "Extreme weather was reported in the East Hampton area at the time of the crash," he said in the statement. 

Town police and the Coast Guard have temporarily suspended the search for the aircraft and the missing bodies until daybreak, police said late Saturday night. 

Update, 9:30 p.m.: The search for two missing people from a plane crash off the Amagansett shoreline Saturday afternoon will continue into the night, weather permitting, a United States Coast Guard spokesman said Saturday evening. 

There were four people onboard a Piper PA-31 Navajo aircraft that lost communication with East Hampton Airport around 2:50 p.m. Debris was found about a mile off Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett, and two bodies were recovered earlier in the evening. 

Despite published reports, police and Coast Guard officials have not released the names of any of the victims. 

"Most of the units have stopped their search at sunset, including four divers from the East Hampton Town Police Department," Coast Guard Petty Officer Frank Iannazzo-Simmons said Saturday evening. Two Coast Guard cutters will continue to search throughout the night, depending on the weather.

There is a chance of showers and thunderstorms overnight, and a small-craft advisory may go into effect, he said.

The Coast Guard is planning to send an HC-144 aircraft from Coast Guard Station Cape Cod "to conduct a first-light search," as long as the weather cooperates Sunday morning, Officer Iannazzo-Simmons said. 

East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said that while the Coast Guard continues the search with its larger vessels throughout the night, a "full-scale operation will resume at daybreak."

Update, 5:10 p.m.: East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said that a small plane lost contact with East Hampton Airport about one mile south of the airport Saturday afternoon.

Private boats located a debris field off Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett soon after. 

The United States Coast Guard identified the plane as a Piper PA-31 Navajo aircraft traveling with four people on board. Their names were not released.

The Coast Guard reported that one person was recovered from the plane and a search was on for three missing people. 

Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound received a call at approximately 2:50 p.m. reporting that a small plane had crashed about a mile off Indian Wells Beach.

Sector Long Island Sound issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast notice to mariners, requesting boats in the area to keep a sharp lookout for the crashed plane and any survivors.

A rescue and recovery effort is underway with police, the Coast Guard, and the Air National Guard participating, the police chief said.

The Coast Guard responded with Coast Guard cutters and a Sikorsky MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod.

Coast Guard rescue crews are on scene conducting searches for survivors along with local agencies, fishing vessels, and shore units.

Anyone with information has been encouraged to contact the Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound command center at 203-468-4401 or on the radio at VHF-FM marine radio channel 16.

Originally, 3:56 p.m.: A plane crashed into the water off Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett Saturday afternoon.

East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo would confirm only that a plane had crashed and that police had set up a command post at Indian Wells Beach. 

East Hampton Airport reportedly lost communication with a small aircraft around 3 p.m. A debris field was found in the ocean off of Indian Wells Beach. 

The United States Coast Guard, the East Hampton Town police dive team, and the East Hampton Ocean Rescue Squad all were responding. 

This article will be updated with more information as it is available.

Seeking support for its plan to use part of a 24-acre site off the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike in Southampton Town as an impound yard for vehicles seized by its Police Department, Sag Harbor Village dispatched Police Chief Austin J. McGuire and Charles Voorhis, an environmental consultant, to a public hearing before the town’s planning board last Thursday. At the same time, concerned citizens and representatives of conservation groups spoke out against the proposal, which they believe would endanger the neighboring Long Pond Greenbelt. 

Chief McGuire laid out reasons why the new impound yard, which would entail paving an 80-by-60-foot area for 20 parking spaces, was a necessity. The Police Department now keeps impounded cars in a lot shared with the village’s Department of Public Works. In addition to being overcrowded, the lot is not secured, he said. “On more than one occasion, the police have found that people whose cars have been impounded have gone back to their cars to retrieve items, which is a no-no.”

Using the Southampton Town impound yard, which is in Hampton Bays, would be impractical, he said, because it is too far away and would cost manpower, by taking an officer out of the village, and money because Sag Harbor does not own a tow truck and would have to hire a firm to move cars there. 

When asked by Jacqui Lofaro, a planning board member, whether it made more sense to reconfigure the current impound yard rather than build a new one, Mr. McGuire said, “There’s only so much we can do with that area.” 

Mr. Voorhis, the managing partner of Nelson, Pope, and Voorhis, an environmental planning firm, provided the board with details of a study it had done on the project. The site was found to have been disturbed since at least 1962. At one point it was a landfill, and more recently it was used as a dumping ground for leaves during seasonal cleanups as well as for temporary parking for PSEG Long Island vehicles. 

In a nod to concerns that impounded cars may leak fluids that would endanger the greenbelt ecosystem, Mr. Voorhis said his firm has recommended that a bioswale designed to contain runoff from the paved lot be added to the plans. He also said that vehicles would be inspected and “anything that has the potential to leak will be addressed prior to it being brought to the yard.” He added that there also would be “a spill kit on the site, to be deployed should there be any concerns.” 

Addressing the impact the project might have on the eastern tiger salamander, an endangered species that breeds in ponds in the greenbelt, Mr. Voorhis noted that he had talked about it with the State Department of Environmental Conservation and explained the department’s criteria for deciding whether a project would pose a threat to the salamander. The D.E.C. looks “to preserve 100 percent of the existing suitable habitat within 535 feet of a breeding pond,” he said. Given that the impound yard would be 625 feet away from the nearest breeding pond, he said that setback would be observed. 

Another D.E.C. guideline is that 50 percent of a suitable upland habitat be preserved within 1,000 feet of a breeding pond. “This property would fall within that area,” Mr. Voorhis acknowledged, “but the key terminology is ‘suitable upland habitat.’ If the area is disturbed, if the soils are compacted, if there’s continuous activity, that is not considered suitable habitat.” In future meetings with the D.E.C., Mr. Voorhis predicted his firm would demonstrate that the village’s proposal satisfied that criterion.

Mr. Voorhis also said worries that the impound yard would ruin the view from the greenbelt nature trail there were unfounded because the yard would be at lower elevation and contained within a smaller space than the area where PSEG trucks are now parked. He also said his firm had looked into whether there were other properties owned by the village that could be used for an impound yard and found that none fit the bill. They “don’t have sufficient area, they’re currently undisturbed, or they’re close to neighboring residential areas.”

Several members of the Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt attended the public hearing and spoke against the proposal. Peter Wilson, who is on the group’s board as well as a member of the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee, called the greenbelt “one of the jewels in the crown of the South Fork” and said the fact that it had been previously disturbed was not a justification for further impacting it. He read a letter from the citizens committee, which called the proposal a “highly inappropriate use for such a sensitive parcel” and “an eyesore for the main entrance to the village.”

Jean Dodds, the secretary-treasurer of Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt, read a letter from the Group for the East End, another conservation alliance, which called the village’s plan “reckless” and said the greenbelt should be protected in its entirety.  

Upon taking her turn at the podium, Dai Dayton, the president of the Friends, stated that she had reached out to Sagaponack Mayor Donald Louchheim to find out how that hamlet deals with impounded cars.

 “They have one town police officer and when they impound cars they take them to Southampton,” Ms. Dayton said. “It doesn’t seem to be a problem. They don’t feel they have to have their own paved impound yard.” Ms. Dayton, who cited a report from the Nature Conservancy that said the greenbelt had one of the highest concentrations of rare species and natural communities anywhere in New York State, asked the board to not only deny the village’s proposal but to buy the land for preservation.

Dennis Finnerty, the chairman of the planning board, had the final word. “This application was originally intended as an administrative walk-on to be rubber-stamped without any public input,” he said, noting that Ms. Dayton had alerted him and caused the board to take a closer look and to allow the public to weigh in.

 “I must say, Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt, your efforts are well organized. I can assure you that your message has been received.” That being said, however, Mr. Finnerty added that whether Southampton Town could prevent Sag Harbor Village from creating an impound yard on land it owns was debatable. “Our efforts may in fact be limited,” he said.

Southampton Town has struck a deal with Jay Bialsky, a real estate developer, to purchase more than 1.25 acres of waterfront property in Sag Harbor Village's business district for $10.5 million. The deal, which is not yet in contract, according a lawyer for the town, could clear the way for the creation of the proposed John Steinbeck Waterfront Park.

"We are absolutely thrilled beyond words," Mayor Sandra Schroeder said in a statement detailing the purchase, which will be made using money from the town's community preservation fund. "This acquisition will transform the last remaining open space on the harbor into a world-class park."

The parcels of land that the town is planning to acquire on the village's behalf include 1, 3, and 5 Ferry Road, on the Sag Harbor side of the bridge that leads to North Haven. For more than a decade, the lots have been blighted with abandoned buildings, including the defunct Harborview Professional Building.

Earlier this year, Mr. Bialsky had purchased the properties as well as 2 West Water Street, better known as the 1-800-Lawyer residence, from Greystone Property Development, a Manhattan real estate company.

In an appearance before the town board in 2015, a development manager from Greystone made it clear that the company was planning to use all of the land to build condominiums and was adamantly opposed to selling any of it to the town. More recently, the company had neared an agreement to sell the Ferry Road parcels to the town, but ultimately sold them to Mr. Bialsky.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and Mr. Bialsky met on April 30 to discuss the possibility of a sale. Later that week, Mr. Schneiderman said that the talks had gone well, but that no deal was in place.

Last week, the Southampton Town Board authorized the use of community preservation fund money to buy the property and a deal was struck soon after.

"We are very, very pleased that Mr. Bialsky has accepted our offer for the Ferry Road property," said Mr. Schneiderman, who added that building a park instead of a condo complex would play a vital role in preserving Sag Harbor's historic character.

As proposed by the village, the Steinbeck park will be linked by land and water to Windmill Park and Long Wharf and will feature a beach area, a fishing and small boat pier, and a pedestrian walkway.

Mr. Bialsky will retain under an acre of land at 2 West Water Street, which he plans to develop into three townhouse residences with boat slips.

An Amber Alert issued Friday morning, with no information other than to check local media, had many Long Islanders thinking there must have been a child abduction close to home. 

However, the Amber Alert was for a missing child in Sodus, N.Y., near Lake Ontario, 400 miles away. 

On Friday morning, the Wayne County Sheriff's Department issued the Amber Alert for Owen Hidalgo-Calderon, a 14-month-old last seen on May 16. The body of his mother, Selena Hidalgo-Calderon, was found in a bag in an apple orchard upstate on Thursday, according to the Democrat & Chronicle of Rochester, leading to an intensified search for her son.

Her boyfriend allegedly admitted to removing her body from their home, reports said. He has not said what became of her son. 

According to the alert, Owen was taken under circumstances that lead police to believe that he is in imminent danger of serious physical harm or death. 

Owen is described as a Hispanic male with brown hair and brown eyes. He is about 2 feet tall and weighs about 30 pounds. He needs his asthma medication.

Anyone with information on this abduction has been asked to call 866-NYS-AMBER or dial 911.

Visit amber.ny.gov for the most up-to-date information on this alert.

In 1931, the members of the Edwin C. Halsey American Legion Post 700 organized Memorial Day ceremonies for East Hampton for the first time in a number of years. Legion members gathered and broke into delegations to decorate 15 veterans’ graves in Green River Cemetery, Oak Lawn Cemetery, Cedar Lawn Cemetery, and the similarly named South End Cemetery and South Cemetery. 

The graves, for the most part of World War I veterans, were adorned with flowers and a flag. In each of the five cemeteries, a bugler played “Taps,” and a firing squad offered a ceremonial volley. This was all completed in two hours, allowing legion members to reassemble on the Village Green by 11 a.m. for a parade through town. 

Item of the Week

From the East Hampton Library Long Island Collection

Joining the legion on the march were Boy Scouts, who debuted a fife and drum corps, the Fire Department, and members of the Coast Guard, which still operated lifesaving stations here in 1931. Today, East Hampton's Memorial Day parade continues along a similar route.

Following the parade, a series of speeches were given at Memorial Green, near present-day Methodist Lane and the North End Cemetery. Three lawyers who practiced on the South Fork, William A. Lockwood, Harry G. Stephens, and Major J. V. Bouvier, gave “stirring addresses,” according to The Star. No opinions were offered on the words of F. Raymond Dominy of the American Legion, but The Star included an image of him speaking in front of fidgeting Boy Scouts seated on the Memorial Green.

The staff of the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection has reminded the community that it is a valuable resource for anyone looking to locate and decorate gravesites of local veterans. The collection has many index materials regarding burials in East Hampton cemeteries, and the staff would be happy to assist in every effort to honor the sacrifices of family and friends.

In case you didn’t know it, there’s a fully functional structure in Water Mill that dates to about 130 years before the nation was founded. It’s the one on Mill Pond with the gently spinning wheel off one wall, catching water from babbling Mill Creek to power aged gears.

Step inside and the wood turning and straining in support of a rotating grindstone is as noisy as a whaling ship in a gale-force blow. And standing amid the symphony of creaks over the weekend was one Ricky Muller, the master carpenter who has been tending to the untold board feet of rough-hewn wood for the better part of 17 years. 

He just finished up his latest project at the Water Mill Museum, a restoration of the wall facing the sidewalk that runs along Old Mill Road. Walking over to a long tiller-like lever sticking out of the floor, he dropped the gate to stop the flow of water into the mill so he could talk. It’s something he does regularly when he’s at work simply so he can think.

“That sidewalk wall was a total redo,” he said. “We moved displays, numbered boards, took pictures, uncovered the entire inside, and took off the shingles and sheathing outside. Then you’re able to see the damage and replace what you need to.” 

He mapped out the wall, sketched it, and determined what was original, something he’s done over the years for the building’s other three walls, too. “There’s never really been a restoration here, just repairs,” he said.

“We find white oak trees that are the right dimensions.” At the top of the wall, and elsewhere in the mill, bark is visible on the logs used, and the edges are rounded. “Back then they went and got a tree just big enough to accomplish the job,” no wasted wood. Knee braces supporting the main timbers will follow the shape of the source wood’s branch, for example. “That work is done by hand. I’ll finish it off with a chisel just like they did back then.”

That “we” he mentioned earlier refers to a couple of Water Mill carpenters who have helped him on the project, Ed Hurley and Ray Sachtleben. Mr. Muller, who lives in East Hampton now, is a son of the hamlet, and the son, literally, of one of its most prominent citizens, Arthur Muller, now 96, who was the postmaster from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s. Not only was the post office once in that very building, upstairs is a display devoted to its history.

And downstairs, an exhibition titled “If These Walls Could Talk,” detailing Mr. Muller’s restoration work, will open this weekend along with the museum’s season. This year’s members art show will also be on view, with a reception set for June 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Admission is by donation.

Bernard Berger, a dermatologist who was at the forefront of scientific efforts to pinpoint the causes of Lyme disease, announced that after nearly 50 years of tending to the skin care of East End residents, he would be closing his Southampton practice on June 30. 

“When I opened my practice in 1971, with my pregnant wife serving as secretary and nurse, I was the only dermatologist on the South Fork,” wrote Dr. Berger in a letter announcing his retirement. Early on in his career, he dabbled in hair transplants and dermabrasion, he said, but his main focus has been treating skin ailments ranging from psoriasis to cancer. 

  Thinking back on the early study of Lyme disease, Dr. Berger recalled the feeling of camaraderie among researchers as well as fierce competition for grant money. He also expressed gratitude to his patients for contributing to his studies. “I took blood and skin samples from several hundred of them,” he said. “They were so cooperative and brave.”

Dr. Berger, who lives in East Hampton, plans to stay active with sports (including sculling) and continue reading medical journals during his retirement.

Taking a stand against the Trump administration’s plan to allow offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling in New York’s coastal waters, the East Hampton Village Board unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday supporting the state’s application for an exemption from the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which was introduced in January by Ryan Zinke, the secretary of the interior. 

“It is not in the best interest of Long Island to allow for drilling offshore in search of fossil fuel,” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said this week. “Our ecosystem is too fragile, and we already worry about island-wide water quality.”

The resolution was one of a series of environmental concerns at the meeting, including littering, Georgica Pond, and the restoration of a scenic easement near Main Street. 

Littering was the focus as the board held a public hearing and ultimately adopted a proposed law to allow retail stores to prepare and serve takeout food and beverages. The law makes explicit that takeout food stores must be equipped with an adequate number of waste receptacles that are regularly emptied by store personnel. Richard Lawler, a board member, underscored that provision. 

 Jodi Giglio, acting as a representative for Robert Pollifrone, the owner of the Buoy One seafood market on Race Lane, who wants to open a Hamptons Coffee Company branch in a space next to his shop, strongly supported the law, as did Lisa Blinderman, the owner of the Second Nature market, which plans to start preparing fresh juices and smoothies.  

Georgica Pond was on the agenda as the board gave the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, an organization working to restore the health of the pond, permission to occasionally deposit algae and other plant material it removes from the pond onto village property at the end of Cove Hollow Road. 

The village also passed a resolution related to a nearly six-year effort to restore a scenic easement at 105 Main Street, where John and Suzanne Cartier have a house. In 2010, the Cartiers sought to relocate and reconfigure their house and build a second one on the two-acre site. They received permission to do so from the zoning board in 2012, but the village board sued, arguing that a scenic easement granted to the village when the property was subdivided in 1975 did not permit a second house. An agreement between the village and the Cartiers has now been reached. 

Becky Molinaro Hansen, the village administrator, explained that the agreement allows a second house to be built as long as the scenic easement is restored. “The resolution approved Friday gives an extension to the Cartiers to move structures that were in a conservation easement,” said Ms. Hansen on Monday. “The extension was granted due to weather conditions that impeded timely completion of the work.”

In other business, the board accepted a bid from Keith Grimes for demolishing a house at 8 Osborne Lane; the site is to become a parking lot. Ms. Hansen said the work would be completed some time after the summer. The board also scheduled a public hearing on the village’s 2018-2019 budget for June 7. 

At the end of the meeting, John Geehreng, the commander of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, asked for approval to install a memorial on North Main Street honoring William Patrick Flynn, an Army private first class, who was “East Hampton’s only fallen hero from the Vietnam War.” The memorial is to be a rock with a plaque commemorating Mr. Flynn, who died in combat on May 28, 1968, at the age of 20. 

Highlighting the significance of the location, Mr. Geehreng said Mr. Flynn, who was known as Pat, had lived at 144 North Main Street when he was growing up. 

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Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that a bid was accepted from South Fork Asphalt to extend the sidewalk on the west side of Toilsome Lane, connecting it to an existing wheelchair ramp opposite Meadow Way. A resolution to that effect was on the agenda for that meeting, but it was not voted on. 

Against a backdrop of Fort Pond’s tranquil blue water, officials of Concerned Citizens of Montauk announced a partnership with Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University on Monday, under which Dr. Gobler’s lab will analyze water samples taken from the pond by C.C.O.M. in order to monitor harmful algal blooms, which appeared in 2015 and last year. 

The announcement comes as the East Hampton Town Board moves toward creation of a wastewater treatment system, and a tax district to fund it, for Montauk’s densely developed downtown, acting on the belief that excessive nitrogen loading is behind the pond’s ecological woes. 

Starting this month, C.C.O.M. officials will collect water samples biweekly; from June through September, samples will be collected weekly. Dr. Gobler’s analysis of them will be the basis for posting public health advisories, if necessary, and tracking the onset and persistence of harmful algal blooms, Laura Tooman, C.C.O.M.’s president, said. 

“This information is not just important to signify that we have an environmental crisis,” she said. “It’s also to help notify the public for health and safety reasons.” 

Depending on sample analysis and conditions during the summer season, weekly testing may continue through October, or be reduced to biweekly, Ms. Tooman said. 

C.C.O.M.’s funding, sourced through grants and donations, will cover the costs of the sampling and transportation to Dr. Gobler’s lab; the State Department of Environmental Conservation will pay for the processing of the samples. 

Dr. Gobler has been monitoring water under the jurisdiction of the town trustees for five years, with a particular focus on Georgica Pond in East Hampton, which has experienced toxic blooms of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, in each of the last several summers. His lab also analyzes water collected from lakes, ponds, and other water bodies on Long Island and in New York City for the D.E.C.

On Monday, Dr. Gobler and C.C.O.M. officials were joined, at Fort Pond House at Carol Morrison Park, by officials including Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, and Councilman David Lys of the town board; Peter Scully, the deputy county executive; County Legislator Bridget Fleming, and Carrie Meek-Gallagher, the D.E.C.’s regional director. Nearly all of them emphasized the importance of science and data-driven decision making as the impetus for Dr. Gobler’s hiring. 

Last summer, the swimming portion of the MightyMan Montauk Triathlon was canceled because of a dense blue-green algae bloom in Fort Pond. That, Dr. Gobler said, was “a sign that things are not as they should be.” Harmful algal blooms, he said, are a symptom of the misuse of land. 

“The big issue here is we know very little about what’s going on in Fort Pond,” Dr. Gobler said. “Not a lot of data has been collected. We’ve received samples on occasion over the last several years, but only a handful. To address the problem, we really need to get more information. This is step one.” 

By year’s end, “we’ll have a very robust data set,” he said, calling that “the first step toward turning this around and improving things.” 

Ms. Fleming noted that cyanobacteria were detected last week in Lake Agawam in Southampton, and in Shinnecock Bay shortly before that. “The attack is largely due to human activity,” she said. “This, in combination with climate change, means that unless it’s all hands on deck for a solution, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. . . . We at the legislative level, the county level, certainly at the state level, have said this is a crisis and we need to address it. But the only way that government can be effective is by partnering with academic institutions and environmental institutions, and particularly to ensure that our efforts are data-driven.” 

The county government, she said, is committed to “taking the science that you’re going to bring to us and doing what we can, working with the community, to try to resolve this problem. It’s a big deal, but we are in it until we win it.”

Mr. Scully, a former regional director of the D.E.C., said that while Long Island may be experiencing a water-quality crisis, “If we have one thing going for us, it’s the fact that we have tremendous academic and science-based institutions that are helping us to evaluate the situation.” The problem, he said, “did not occur overnight, it’s not going to be fixed overnight,” but Dr. Gobler’s engagement “is a huge step forward for us.” 

The discussion veered into related topics. “We have a fairly good idea that septic systems are a huge contributing factor to this,” Ms. Tooman said, with several officials talking about the importance of replacing primitive and failing septic systems with state-of-the-art systems that reduce nitrogen, and the programs to encourage homeowners to do that. A community oyster garden program has proven popular and, in its third year, will grow considerably, an effort to clean the water through natural processes, as oysters are filter-feeding organisms. And the town board, Mr. Van Scoyoc reminded those in attendance, is acting on a wastewater treatment district for the hamlet’s downtown. 

“It’s not just these isolated issues, it’s all tied into one bigger picture, which is that we really have to start paying more attention and take better care of the place where we live,” the supervisor said. “We can do that in small ways, we can do that in big ways, but we need to do all of it, as much of it as we can, now and into the future so we can ensure that what’s so beautiful about this place remains for all to enjoy.”