Advocate Urges Better Septic Technology

Local municipalities can, and should, enact standards for septic systems that are more stringent than those upheld by the Suffolk County Health Department, which regulates septic waste systems throughout the county, Kevin McAllister, the founder of Defend H20 in Sag Harbor, told the East Hampton Town Board this week.

Several companies have introduced technology that can reduce the amount of nitrogen in the effluent released into the environment from septic systems — a key pollutant causing the deterioration of drinking and surface waters.

Mr. McAllister, the former Peconic Baykeeper, urged East Hampton officials to follow the lead of Brookhaven Town, which recently enacted a law requiring the use of “best available technology” for sanitary systems and sewage treatment facilities of a certain size in the Carmans River watershed.

According to the Brookhaven law, “the stricter standard is necessary because the standard in use by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services is generally intended to protect human health, but is not sufficient to protect ecological health and to avoid ecological impacts to the Carmans River.” The law sets a threshold for the maximum amount of nitrogen that can be discharged from a system over a year, on average, as well as an amount that cannot be exceeded in any one month.

The law, said Mr. McAllister on Tuesday, is “a really important first start,” and is “exceptional, in as far as we really should be imposing more stringent discharge levels. We all have our stressed watersheds,” he said.

In East Hampton Town, Fort Pond, Accabonac Harbor, Northwest Creek, Lake Montauk, and Georgica Pond have all been deemed “impaired water bodies” by the state, based on the level of pollutants.

Mr. McAllister has long advocated for more stringent septic discharge limits, and for the Health Department to revise its guidelines.

While previously it was unclear whether local towns could set their own tighter limits, Mr. McAllister said Tuesday that recent case law upheld the right of an upstate New York town to do so. He provided information on that case to East Hampton officials.

East Hampton is developing a comprehensive wastewater management plan, with the help of Pio Lombardo of Lombardo Associates, which is among the firms that have developed highly efficient septic systems. The reduction of nitrogen-rich septic discharge is a goal.