Government

New studies called for on Fresh Pond pollution question

JULIE LANE PHOTO | Councilman Peter Reich shows off a Secchi disk as Waterways Mnagement Advisory Council chairman John Needham looks on at Monday night’s WMAC meeting.

Councilman Peter Reich introduced members of the Waterways Management Advisory Council Monday night to the Secchi disk, an app sailors use to measure depth and the clarity of seawater.

It’s a white plastic disk attached to a measuring tape and is lowered into the water until it’s no longer visible from the surface. Results are then uploaded into the Secchi app on either an Android or iPhone application.

What brought the thought to mind were recent reports on Fresh Pond pollution and concerns about other bodies of water around Shelter Island, Mr. Reich said.

WMAC member James Eklund said despite the Watershed Management Plan’s report this year of pollution in Fresh Pond, he thought the water there was clearer than it has been in past years.

And he might be right. On Wednesday afternoon Supervisor Jim Dougherty revealed an updated reading of Fresh Pond water quality that said it “looks quite healthy.” Public Works Commissioner Jay Card Jr. said the request was made that the latest testing be done in the same area and in the same way that the previous test was done.

“Perhaps it’s the vagaries of the testing,” Mr. Dougherty said about the decision last month to ban swimming at Fresh Pond.

WMAC Member Bill Geraghty wondered Monday night if the pollution reported this year is the result of a sudden spike or has been increasing year by year until it reached the readings that resulted in its being closed to swimming.

In making the decision to close Fresh Pond, Supervisor Jim Dougherty said in September his motivation was the high levels of phosphorus and coliforms that placed it on New York State’s “impaired waters” list.

“Between now and next spring the town and its committees plan to strategize ways to improve the water quality at Fresh Pond and consider possible regulatory measures to better protect these waters going forward,” Mr. Dougherty said at a September Town Board meeting.

Mr. Dougherty wants to know the history of pollutants in Fresh Pond to know if they are worse now than they have been in past years.

It would fall to the Town Board to make a decision on whether to form a committee, as Mr. Eklund suggested, or assign further study to the existing Waterways Management Advisory Council.

There was a brief discussion at the WMAC meeting about removing a three-hour limit on use of transient moorings between May and September so a visitor who might moor his craft and use a dinghy to come ashore would not technically be in violation of the town’s law, according to Mr. Reich. But with only four members of the seven-member council at Monday night’s meeting, it was agreed to delay any suggestion about changing the law.

Member Al Loreto told his colleagues he accompanied representatives of Cornell Cooperative Extension on a recent outing to seed oysters, clams and scallops in Coecles Harbor and West Neck Harbor.

By votes of 4-0, the council will recommend that the Town Board approve the following applications:
• Construction of a 40-foot extension to an existing south return at property belonging to Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan, who live at 74 Gardiners Bay Drive.
• Installation of a private mooring in Coecles Harbor for the Allonbys at 185 North Ram Island Drive.