Questions on Proposal For Sewage Treatment
Downtown Montauk business owners and others are beginning to hear about a sewage treatment project for that area that could get started soon. The proposal comes from a study of wastewater commissioned by East Hampton Town, and it is one part of a much more ambitious program that is now coming into focus.
Other places where the town’s consultant has recommended that new systems are warranted include Camp Hero, an area near Three Mile Harbor, and East Hampton Village. The downtown Montauk project is envisioned as the first of a connected solution that could also deal with wastewater from Ditch Plain and the Montauk dock area. Initially, the project could be financed by creating a tax district of eligible properties. The cost for a first phase has been estimated at $26 million — a lot of money, especially when water quality in and around the downtown area has not generally been understood to be at the top of the town’s ecological concerns.
The goal of the townwide wastewater study is a good one; impaired water quality is a threat to human health and the environment. However, in the past, sewage treatment facilities, particularly on Long Island, have been the source of endless frustration, inadequate disclosure, and even corruption. In addition, whether wastewater improvements could have the unintended effect of increasing residential and commercial density must be considered.
Critics have warned that a new sewer push in Suffolk is actually an effort by developers to squeeze more out of Long Island’s fragile landscape. Karl Grossman, who has watched county affairs closely for decades, recently wrote: “With sewers, constraints on development based on how much cesspools can handle disappear.” This should be a very big red flag.
From a purely ecological perspective, we wonder about the rationale for beginning with downtown Montauk in the first place. One might think that parts of Accabonac Harbor or Lake Montauk, other than around the heavily commercialized dock area — which have seen state-ordered shellfishing bans — would be higher priorities for protection. And there seems to be low regard in the study for smaller steps, though common in some other places, like incentives for individual septic system upgrades. From what we have seen so far, the consultant’s work has the markings of a giant make-work effort based on poorly explained assumptions that are some distance from East Hampton’s commonly held environmental priorities.
Before East Hampton Town moves forward with any major parts of this or other wastewater proposals, officials — and the public — will need to know exactly what the effects would be on building density and resultant demands for public services as well as what the ecological benefits will be. Doing the right thing as far as water quality is concerned must not look past a full appreciation of other values this community shares.