C.P.F. Could Be Tapped for Water

State lawmakers have approved a bill that would extend the life of the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund and would allow the five East End towns to seek approval from voters to use a portion of it for water quality improvement projects. The preservation fund has provided more than $1 billion for land preservation on the North and South Forks since it was established in 1999.

The bill, passed unanimously in both houses of the legislature, has not yet reached the governor’s desk; once it does, he will have 10 days to act on it.

The revised law, if adopted by individual towns and okayed by their voters through a mandatory referendum, would extend the program’s expiration date by 20 years, through 2050, and authorize the towns to use up to 20 percent of the fund to pay for projects such as wastewater treatment systems, both traditional and alternative; pollution prevention and abatement, including stormwater collection systems and vessel sewage holding tank pump-out stations; and aquatic habitat restoration.

Up to 10 percent of the funding allocated to water quality improvement could be used to support the Peconic Estuary Program, as a match for federal, state, county, or other funding.

The projects, according to the legislation, must be designed to improve existing water quality, to meet specific water quality standards, and not to “permit or accommodate new growth” or development.

Money for the preservation fund, which may be used for open space, farmland, or recreational land preservation, as well as historic preservation, comes from a 2-percent tax on most real estate transfers.

The new legislation states that “the East End, surrounded entirely by water, is a community whose history, economy, and character is dependent upon clean water for recreation, tourism, and shellfishing. Maintaining the ecological health of local bays is just as crucial to protecting the character of the community as preserving open space has been.”

New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., a sponsor of the recently passed legislation along with Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, said last year in a discussion of the preservation fund law amendment that “water quality is the issue of this decade,” and that increasing pollution of bays, freshwater ponds, and aquifers “would certainly undermine not only the environment, but the economy.”

Projects like those being discussed in East Hampton — such as the neighborhood wastewater treatment systems that have been proposed by the town’s wastewater management consultant as a solution to septic system pollution of waterways — are costly, and with federal grants unlikely and limited state money available, they are “certainly beyond” the means of local governments alone, Mr. Thiele said.

This summer, pollution levels have reached critically high levels in a number of East Hampton water bodies, including Northwest Creek, Fort Pond, Lake Montauk, and Georgica Pond, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said on Tuesday.

“Those are early signs,” he said, of serious water quality degradation. “And if we are going to stop it, we’re going to need some funding to do it.” The extension of the preservation fund program and expansion of its mission is a “really important funding opportunity . . . a valuable tool,” he said, in trying to achieve the water quality improvement and protection goals that have been laid out in a draft town comprehensive wastewater management plan.

“I do think the town, and the people that live here, should decide if a portion of [the fund] should be used in trying to achieve these goals,” Mr. Cantwell said.

The preservation fund has been used to protect over 10,000 acres on the East End so far.

In the first six months of 2015, $48 million flowed into the fund from the five participating towns, up more than 5 percent from the same period last year. Revenues in 2014 were the highest since the program was established.

In East Hampton, real estate transactions subject to the 2-percent tax resulted in $14.7 million in revenues for the preservation fund from January through June.

Mr. Thiele projected that revenue into East Hampton Town’s preservation fund during its additional 20 years through 2050 could reach $415 million; that could provide up to $83 million for water quality projects.

Among supporters of the changes to the C.P.F. law is Dick Amper, the executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, an environmental education and advocacy organization. Mr. Amper has suggested that half of the amount authorized for water quality improvement projects should be set aside for regional water cleanup, regardless of where the funds are generated.

While the fund is regional, each town — Riverhead, Southold, Southampton, Shelter Island, and East Hampton — is allocated the proceeds raised from the 2-percent tax within its boundaries. But, Mr. Amper has pointed out, pollutants of ground and surface waters know no boundaries, warranting a regional effort. The North Fork towns consistently raise far less preservation fund money than East Hampton and Southampton.