If you had $1.5 million to improve water quality in East Hampton Town, how would you do it?
Mellissa McCarron, a senior environmental analyst for the town, suggested at Tuesday’s town board meeting that the board consider funding four water quality projects, together costing nearly $1 million. More than half the money would go to a single project benefiting Georgica Pond. Ms. McCarron, also an ex-officio member of the town’s water quality technical advisory committee, also recommended the town spend money for a septic upgrade at Rita Cantina — the Springs restaurant that has a number of town code violations — provided the restaurant comes into compliance.
Twice yearly, the advisory committee weighs applications seeking funding through the Community Preservation Fund’s water quality budget. The applications are ranked based on criteria including cost, maintenance, monitoring, and the benefit to water quality. In 2016, after a successful referendum, the town set aside 20 percent of C.P.F. money to be allocated to water quality improvement projects. In the second half of this year, it received seven applications for the $1.5 million available.
Groundwater flows into Georgica Pond from the west. The Peconic Land Trust requested $521,235 for a “permeable reactive barrier” to treat the water before it reaches the pond.
“P.R.B.s are kind of like a triage,” Ms. McCarron explained. “Upland, we are capturing stormwater. This is treating existing contaminants. There is no other way of controlling them, because they’re already in the groundwater.”
Imagine layers in a water filter, only buried underground perpendicular to the flow of groundwater. The groundwater seeps through the permeable barrier, and the “reactive” materials within the wall either trap contaminants or render them less harmful. In this case, three barriers will be placed underground just south of Route 27, on the north end of the Georgica Pond Preserve, to create a treatment zone.
“The goal is to treat the legacy contaminants and the emergent chemicals before they reach the pond,” said Ms. McCarron. Over the life span of the barriers, roughly 20 years, it is estimated that two pounds of these synthetic chemicals, which are resistant to heat, grease, and water and do not break down easily, will be prevented from seeping into the pond. The project could also remove 35 to 80 pounds of nitrogen per year.
The proposal to install these barriers is the first of its kind to come before the town board, Ms. McCarron noted.
In an email, to The Star, she said the chemicals in question are coming from “upland sources” — “fire retardants, Teflon, water-resistant coatings,” and the like. The State Department of Environmental Conservation has declared the East Hampton Airport a Superfund site and a source of such chemicals. At one point, fire departments trained in the vicinity and used firefighting foam.
While groundwater concentrations of ammonium and nitrates are not at “crazy levels,” Ms. McCarron said, the levels of the synthetic chemicals are far higher than the state’s current drinking-water standard.
Other water quality projects are targeting Georgica Pond as well, including a rest-stop stormwater treatment plan and a mile-long pipe that drains into Georgica Cove. Councilman David Lys called the advisory committee’s suggestion “another layer of protection for Georgica Pond that potentially, the town has the option to fund.” Because the Peconic Land Trust is a not-for-profit, it is eligible for 100 percent of the cost, and the committee recommended it receive the full amount.
As for Rita Cantina, which is adjacent to Maidstone Park, not only has the restaurant angered neighbors, who have complained about parking and traffic in their residential neighborhood, it has also been accused by the town of operating more than one business from its site, which is forbidden by town code. Ms. McCarron told the board it could choose to reimburse the restaurant only when it complies with town code — a septic carrot.
In fact, the work — an upgrade of a commercial septic system to an I/A system — has already been completed, so any money awarded by the town, in this case $70,038, would be a reimbursement. While the restaurant requested over $200,000, awards to commercial establishments are capped at 65 percent of installation. The advisory committee said the money will be well spent, because sanitary waste from the restaurant, an estimated 267 pounds of nitrogen annually, reaches Three Mile Harbor and the adjacent Sunset Cove in under two years.
LongHouse Reserve requested $151,240 from the town to upgrade its conventional septic systems. LongHouse is not close to any impaired water body and not in a priority area, but the committee recommended it be funded because it is located in a water recharge overlay district and the groundwater will benefit from the annual removal of an estimated 185 pounds of nitrogen.
Finally, the committee recommended $200,000 be awarded to the Driftwood Apartment Corporation, at 2178 Montauk Highway on Napeague. The complex, with 60 units, has a large sanitary flow into the ocean, 9,233 gallons per day. Eight existing systems will be replaced, removing 1,158 pounds of nitrogen per year. The request for the large project was $1.455 million; the committee recommended awarding Driftwood the full capped amount of $200,000.
