Tap Napeague Main For Thirsty Montauk
After months of discussions and a detailed environmental review, it appears likely that East Hampton Town officials will support a Suffolk County Water Authority proposal to bring public water from Napeague to Montauk.
Up to 20 million gallons a year could be pumped from the East Hampton aquifer via a water main extension, putting an end to the hamlet's perpetual summer water crisis.
The seasonal emergency is over now, with hotels quieter and the large crowds mostly gone. But many believe that until something is done to bring Montauk a cleaner, more reliable source of water than is provided by the Water Authority's overburdened system of pipes and wells there, the problems will not go away.
Hither Woods Aquifer
"This is an emergency condition that they can't satisfy without putting in an extension," a town consultant, Kevin Phillips of the hydrogeologic engineering firm Fanning, Phillips, and Molnar, said at a Sept. 16 meeting on the project.
Ever since the extension was first proposed, there have been those in Town Hall who questioned the prudence of connecting the Montauk water system to the Napeague main.
Some believed the untapped aquifer under Hither Woods - land preserved with funds from the town, county, state, and the Water Authority - would prove sufficient for Montauk's water demands. Others feared that connecting the Napeague main to the Montauk system would allow the Water Authority to take water west some day from Hither Woods.
Mainland Water
"That'll never happen," Mr. Phillips said last week. If anything, he said, the town should consider the impact on the East Hampton water table if Montauk gets all its water from the mainland.
"There is no reason why these Montauk wells won't shut down," he said.
Lisa Liquori, the town planning director, agreed. "Nobody wants to leave Montauk high and dry, but poor management, and all the wells could go just like that," she said.
As it worked on the required environmental impact statement for the project - which local officials first said was insufficient and then dubbed incomplete - the Water Authority accused the town, and particularly its planning director, of holding up the most economic solution to Montauk's water problems: a $1.5 million extension of the water main.
The town in turn blamed the authority for not exploring other solutions before the problems reached crisis level.
Time For Action
Both sides now seem to be done casting blame and ready to take action. The Water Authority has made some minor concessions to the town and the town is beginning to recognize that it may not have much choice in determining the source of Montauk's future water supply.
Larry Penny, the director of natural resources, was originally opposed to bringing mainland water to Montauk but now believes the Hither Woods aquifer could not sustain the hamlet's water needs on its own.
"They need water from the East Hampton mainland," he said this week.
In its updated environmental impact statement, the Water Authority gave the town the less than promising results of a test well drilled in Hither Woods. It indicated that the saltwater intrusion zone was not as far down as expected.
According to Mr. Phillips, a well in Hither Woods could safely pump about 300 gallons of water per minute. The Water Authority plans to pump a yearly average of 38 gallons per minute from East Hampton.
"If this is a situation where you're building the pipeline for peak pumping needs, without doubt it would be a minor impact to the town," Mr. Phillips said. During peak season, that 38-gallon-per-minute figure would be much greater, and during the slower season it might be almost nothing.
So why isn't the Hither Woods aquifer, which could pump 300 gallons per minute, good enough?
Given projected growth in Montauk, "[the hamlet's] needs are going to be so great that even Hither Woods would be seriously drained," Mr. Penny said this week.
Mr. Phillips said that to supply all of Montauk with water from East Hampton would take at least five times what the Water Authority currently plans to pump.
"Some people in Town Hall were banking on, if the town took water from Hither Woods, we would not have to make this connection," Michael LoGrande, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Water Authority, said this week.
Mr. LoGrande said the authority had no grand designs on Montauk's water, nor does it plan to shut down the existing wells there.
"We're making the connection to back up the Montauk system," he said. "Hither Woods is not the answer to that."
Meter Will Measure
Even if a well were to go on line in Hither Woods, Mr. LoGrande said, it would serve only to replace one of the existing Montauk wells and not to supply the whole hamlet.
"There was not as great a well field there as we thought there was going to be," he explained.
The Water Authority has agreed to install a meter to measure the flow of water both to and from Montauk and has pledged to continue maintenance of the Montauk system. According to Mr. LoGrande, the authority already has plans to put in an iron-removal system at the existing Montauk wells.
Other upgrades will be done on a priority basis, the environmental impact statement promises.
Seek Assurance
The town would like some further assurance that the wells in Montauk won't be shut down.
"It would be wrong for the East Hampton aquifer to supply all of Montauk," Mr. Phillips said, adding later, "Let them show you how the water table will respond to that."
A drop of just a foot in the mainland water table could, he said, have a serious impact on the shoreline streams and ponds of the mainland.
"The Suffolk County Water Authority's objective is to run this as a business," Mr. Phillips said. "They say, what's cheaper? If it's cheaper to turn off the wells in Montauk, they're going to do it."
Others have suggested that the Water Authority may also be eager to provide as many new hookups as possible to recoup some of its recent losses in Montauk.
Chairman Responds
Mr. LoGrande took offense to this characterization.
"The Suffolk County Water Authority has 320,000 customers, $90 million in revenue," he said. "We are not looking for more customers. We're here to serve the people and do a very effective job, period."
He said that over the past few years the authority has spent close to $12 million in Montauk.
"That's more money than we've ever spent anywhere. Montauk's growth would never recover that investment. . . . Montauk has always been an economic failure for the Water Authority."
And, he pointed out, East Hampton has not jumped at offers to take over the system.
Development Pressure?
Town officials have worried that with water easily available, Montauk could face increased development pressures.
"We don't want an explosion of growth," Town Supervisor Cathy Lester said at the Town Board meeting last week. "And we want to make sure [the water] isn't going to go to any possible dream of a golf course in Montauk."
"To try to control that by limiting the water supply is not the wisest policy to follow," Mr. LoGrande responded this week. "Water mains do not necessarily bring development," he maintained, using as an illustration a new main in Southold. It was installed in 1994, and since then, the Water Authority chairman said, there have been no new customers there.
"We're not asking for carte blanche," he said. "This draft environmental impact statement is the longest and most tedious one we've ever done."
Wainscott Watershed
It has shown, he said, that the East Hampton aquifer, which does not hit the saltwater interface until 637 feet below grade, could back up the Montauk system, provide for projected development in Montauk, and even serve Springs if need be.
According to the statement, the volume of water under the woods in northwest Wainscott is as pure as anywhere on Long Island. But with increased use and increased construction on watershed land, its quality can slowly degrade over the years.
Not For Golf Courses
"We want to protect that watershed land to provide for the people of East Hampton, to supply Montauk with drinking water, not to water golf courses," Mr. Penny said this week, referring to the recent extension of public water to 124 acres off Accabonac Highway and Abraham's Path owned by the Bistrian family and slated to become the Stony Hill Country Club.
Mr. Penny said he hoped that action would not set a precedent for how public water can be used.
The Town Board has until next Thursday to decide if the latest update to the environmental impact statement for the water main extension is complete. If it is deemed complete, the project will be brought to a public hearing this fall.