Eye on ‘Forgotten Pond’

A plea to the East Hampton Town Trustees to allow expanded research of Wainscott Pond in order to develop remedies for its degraded water quality was approved at a meeting on Monday.

Simon Kinsella, representing a group of private property owners, told the trustees that $179,000 had been raised to fund a study similar to one done of Georgica Pond, which, like Wainscott Pond, has had repeated blooms of harmful blue-green algae. At a July 18 meeting of the property owners’ group, which was attended by Jim Grimes and Bill Taylor of the trustees, a plan was developed to begin research as soon as possible.

Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences would be hired to expand the research of Wainscott Pond that he began for the trustees last year, Mr. Kinsella said. Dr. Gobler has been monitoring conditions in waterways under trustee jurisdiction, including Georgica Pond, for several years. More recently, he has worked on behalf of the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, another group of private property owners.

The plan for Wainscott Pond, which Mr. Kinsella called “the forgotten pond,” was smaller in scope to the research underway at Georgica, but would include installation of a telemetry buoy that would transmit real-time data such as temperature, pH, and levels of chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, and blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria. A telemetry buoy has been placed in Georgica Pond in the spring and summer for the last two years.

Also included in the proposed study are expanded sampling of water from both the center and multiple points at the perimeter of the pond; core samples of the soil and sediment using a manual sampling tool, and a noninvasive study of the pond’s hydrology.

With only five of the eight trustees present (a ninth trustee, Pat Mansir, resigned in May), the group voted 4 to 1 to approve Mr. Kinsella’s proposal for expanded research, on the condition that a comprehensive application with a more clearly defined scope be presented at or before their next meeting on Aug. 14.

Diane McNally, the trustees’ former clerk, cast the dissenting vote. She told Mr. Kinsella and her colleagues that her vote was because, “in my experience, no matter how benign a particular project may seem the very first time you’re looking at it . . . I have found that with a little time to think about it, you come up with some questions or concerns that make the whole project more beneficial. While I’m going to say no for tonight, I certainly support the project and look forward to what you bring to us” at the trustees’ next meeting.

“There’s no remediation discussed yet,” Mr. Taylor said. “You’re basically going to do what we did in Georgica Pond: Gather as much information as you can.”