Wastewater Problems Analyzed
Public discussions will begin next week of a draft East Hampton Town comprehensive wastewater management plan. The document, prepared by Pio Lombardo of the Massachusetts consulting firm Lombardo Associates and posted online at ehwaterrestore.com, contains an analysis of the problems of wastewater disposal and their potential solutions.
According to Mr. Lombardo, there are an estimated 19,221 wastewater systems in the town, either with leaching pools or cesspools, and 11 percent of them need an upgrade or to be replaced with an off-site system. Over all, the consultant has identified 146 properties where off-site wastewater treatment is required, based on possible bacterial contamination. An additional 499 properties are likely to need off-site solutions, and there is a “water quality risk” on 1,706 sites. Private well water is considered vulnerable on 1,383 properties.
The draft plan is based on a detailed review of demographics and other community information, site conditions, test results, and other data.
At several upcoming sessions with the East Hampton Town Board, Mr. Lombardo will go over concerns and issues, including surface and groundwater contamination, as well as the cost of solutions. The first session is on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the East Hampton Village Emergency Services Building.
In one report, a “wastewater needs analysis,” Mr. Lombardo tallied the individual wastewater systems throughout town and examined the conditions surrounding them, such as the type of soils and the depth to groundwater, which are key in assessing whether contamination reaches the water table. Of concern, the consultant says in the report, are systems where there is less than two feet between the system and groundwater, where the soils are impermeable, where wells and septic systems are too close to one another, and where they are installed too close to waterfront or wetlands.
Malfunctioning systems are indicated by plumbing back-ups, wastewater erupting on the surface, and a need for “excessive pumping,” according to the report. Systems that serve multiple residences that are suspected of malfunctioning, according to the report, include those at the Three Mile Harbor trailer park, Whalebone Apartments, Acca?bonac Apartments, the Windmill I and II apartment complexes, and the Avallone apartments on Fort Pond Bay. In addition, a system at Camp Hero in Montauk is malfunctioning, and Mr. Lombardo has prepared a plan to address it.
In addition to Camp Hero, Mr. Lombardo recommends new or improved neighborhood treatment facilities for downtown Montauk, the Montauk docks, the Ditch Plain area of that hamlet, the southern Three Mile Harbor area, and the East Hampton Village business district. For each of those areas, Mr. Lombardo has assessed possible locations for a treatment system.
Throughout the town, according toMr. Lombardo, there are 1,383 properties with private wells that “likely do not have sufficient separation between private disposal systems and private wells.” Half of these lots, where wastewater is too close to a drinking-water well, are in Montauk; 25 percent are in Springs, and another 25 percent are in East Hampton. Wells in the Three Mile Harbor watershed, according to the report, “may be impacted by contamination” from the Springs-Fireplace Road landfill, now solely a recycling center.
Lombardo Associates also examined the conditions near Suffolk County Water Authority wells, which supply water in areas where water mains have been extended. On 92 properties near public wells, effluent or other seepage could reach the public wells within two yearsˇ time. Pretreatment systems are suggested to protect the public water supply.
Certain types of septic systems, such as those that serve multiple dwellings, or commercial sites where waste from more than 20 persons a day may be processed, require state permits; there are 112 properties with such permits, “that may require treatment systems.” Improvements to those systems in areas where there is insufficient depth to groundwater and those in watersheds draining to the Peconic Estuary, should be the priority, Mr. Lombardo says.
According to the report, there are an estimated 965 septic systems on properties within the town’s harbor protection districts, areas near the shore where water quality protection measures are in place, including 311 in Montauk and 313 in Springs.
Separate sections of the consultant’s draft plan will be reported on separately as public meetings on the wastewater plan continue. They contain potential solutions to the wastewater treatment issues, such as the neighborhood treatment plants, and address their costs and the ways that the town could finance them.