Connections: Save the Waterways
Last week, when County Executive Steve Bellone proposed a surcharge on the use of public water to fund projects to remove nitrogen from groundwater — and subsequently the waterways — I was immediately reminded that Suffolk was the first municipality in the nation to ban the sale of household detergents.
The year was 1971 and the environmental concern was phosphates, which were polluting the waterways. As states around the country followed suit, the industry began changing detergent formulas. What had caused the then-new Suffolk Legislature to act was foaming tap water. But not everyone was pleased with the county’s ban or the new detergents coming on the market. Some took to buying the detergents they preferred across the county line. The Suffolk County Water Authority sank deeper wells, and more properties hooked up to public water.
Today, the harmful effects of nitrogen are the targets. Instead of a ban (which apparently would be entirely impractical) government is throwing money at studies and proposing remediation. In East Hampton, consultants have recommended such installations as reactive barriers and bioswales, which are mysterious to most of us. Deciding where they should go and how to pay for them are issues, and doing something to help property owners upgrade old cesspools and inadequate septic treatment systems is being discussed by the town board, which brings us back to Mr. Bellone’s initiative.
On Monday, a number of local officials as well as representatives of environmental and business groups announced their support. The South Fork’s county legislator, Bridget Fleming, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., and Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman were among them.
The proposed surcharge, $1 per 1,000 gallons of water, is estimated to bring in $75 million a year for improvement projects. Decisions about where the money would be spent is left up to the county under the proposal, making it entirely far from assured that the East End towns would be recipients of any of it. And what may be a stumbling block is that only those who use public water (from the Suffolk County Water Authority or the Greenport Water Department) would pay the surcharge, in effect, being taxed not only to help themselves but the thousands upon thousands of county residents who rely on private wells.
The biggest obstacle so far is the State Senate majority leader, John J. Flanagan of Northport. He has been quoted as “unequivocally opposed” to the surcharge and has said it will be dead on arrival. It is notable that Mr. Bellone is a Democrat while Mr. Flanagan is a Republican.
In November, voters in the five East End towns will decide whether to allow 20 percent of the money from the community preservation fund to be used for water-quality improvement.
The lead story in The Star last week summarized ongoing studies of town water bodies by Christopher Gobler, a Stony Brook University scientist hired by the town trustees. He has identified harmful algal blooms in Georgica and Fort Ponds and evidence of bacteria in other local waterways including Three Mile Harbor. Phosphorus in wastewater, he said, continues to be a problem.
Like many others here, I remember when our harbors were pristine, when we could assure newcomers that crabs from Georgica and clams from Three Mile Harbor were perfectly fine. I wonder when, and if, we will be able to do so again.