Greening the Green

Plans to make the East Hampton Village Green more “green” are moving ahead, with a proposal to install contaminant-absorbing landscaping near Town Pond. Another project, a bioswale (whatever that is), will go in near Hook Mill. Both will help improve water quality in Hook Pond, whose headwaters reach to roadside drains on North Main Street. 

Mark our words, when the landscaping is in and what have you is planted, even if it’s native species, there will be some who will wonder what is going on and loudly demand, “Why weren’t we told?!” 

Hook Pond, with its minimal public access and limited recreational fishery, is hardly among this area’s pressing ecological problems, which is one reason why the focus on it might appear off base. One reason for the enthusiasm for the village green project from the Surfrider Foundation’s local chapter, Ladies Village Improvement Society, and several landscaping firms is its location, which will put water quality restoration in an impossible-to-ignore spot. 

Coupled with other developments — a likely massive funding source for new protections and movement in county government toward better septic systems — water quality improvement seems on the rise. The more the better, especially given recent studies. But we are concerned that amid all their enthusiasm, officials are getting ahead of themselves and backing undertakings that ought to be second or third-string priorities. 

A healthier Hook Pond is great, but its improvement should not come at the expense of work where, like at Lake Montauk, it is needed most. As officials consider the many coming ideas for improvement, they must ask where the efforts and money are really needed.