Getting serious about septic systems

Glynis Berry realizes she’s wading in murky waters, but it’s a place she dares to go because of her passion for the environment and the increasing water pollution on the East End.

Ms. Berry is executive director of Peconic Green Growth, an organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing natural resources, developing sustainable communities and designing appealing public space “by brokering a balance between the natural and built environment,” according to the group’s mission statement.

Water pollution is a critical subject gaining attention on Shelter Island since Town Engineer John Cronin sounded the alarm in April about the sorry condition of septic systems here contributing to pollution that he warned will worsen “without some radical changes.” The problem, Mr. Cronin told the Town Board, is dangerous pollutants, especially nitrogen compounds, polluting not just drinking water but surrounding surface waters, including bays and ponds.

Cesspools ­— nothing more than holes in the ground providing minor filtering of pollutants through sand and silt — and antiquated septic systems that inadequately treat wastewater — are the culprits, Mr. Cronin said. Ms. Berry, an Orient resident, heartily agrees.

“We have to have regulations and stop grandfathering in cesspools,” Ms. Berry said.

More than 50 percent of East End residents have cesspools that are incapable of treating wastewater that ends up polluting aquifers and surrounding water.

OPENING EYES
Too much nitrogen and phosphorus have already resulted in pollution of coastal waters, bays, lakes, rivers and streams, according the Environmental Protection Agency. Even at low levels, nutrient pollution can affect groundwater, resulting in damage to plant and animal life, but also affecting human ability to see and breathe, according to the EPA.

After listening to Mr. Cronin’s description of dangers posed by inadequate septic systems on the Island water, Supervisor Jim Dougherty called the engineer’s report “an eye opener.”

An architect by trade, Ms. Berry has been immersed in the subject of septic systems for several years now, focusing on cluster systems, capable of serving several homes in a development. But she’s not sure that’s the solution for Shelter Island where many houses are too far apart to share a cluster system. In such cases, a single house septic system, upgraded with the newest technology, would be needed, Ms. Berry said.

She has been spearheading several grant-funded studies aimed at moving Suffolk County and various municipalities forward in the effort to solve the pollution problem she believes is the crux of environmental difficulties.

Money from Suffolk County and other sources including Southampton Town has enabled her to concentrate on projects from Riverhead to Orient and in Southampton, while examining what has been achieved in other states — Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland.

Toward that end, Ms. Berry joined a Suffolk County sponsored “Advanced Wastewater and Transfer of Development Rights Tour” of those states funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — a trip Ms. Berry describes as the “sewer tour.”

POLITICS AND MONEY
Ms. Berry has been looking at not just technology, but how communities are handling misconceptions about wastewater systems and the political considerations affecting how to fund new systems.

Wastewater treatment systems, once regarded as attractive incentives for housing and business developments, were later viewed as money pits because better systems would mean more construction.
Costs can run between $25,000 and $30,000 per household for upgraded systems and shouldn’t be borne by homeowners alone, Ms. Berry said.

That’s where her belief in a “social equity component” comes in, with grants offsetting costs and all taxpayers sharing in the balance. Cleaning up wastewater is a benefit not just to individual homeowners served by new systems, but to the entire community.

Ongoing research can lead to less expensive treatment systems, but meanwhile, Ms. Berry’s philosophy is simple: Find a way to finance effective septic systems soon or pay at the other end for medical care for the many who will be sickened by water that’s affected by dangerous levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and other contaminants.

And once that happens, the community would be clamoring for improved systems to keep the problem from continuing to plague residents.

“For years, I have been a proponent of some type of incentive system, whether through tax abatements or subsidies,” Mr. Cronin said. He sees incentives as an excellent spur to get homeowners to upgrade.

Southampton passed legislation providing for subsidies in April 2013. A property owner with a system constructed prior to January 1, 1981, and not upgraded, is eligible to apply for funding providing the proposed new system meets Suffolk County Department of Health Services standards, including improvements in lower nitrogen levels. The subsidiary for single building systems is up to $5,000 or $2,500 for a clustered system serving several buildings.

But a building located in a critical watershed management area can get up to $6,000 for a single system. Owners within a cluster that serves several properties can receive up to $3,000. Currently, there is about $20,000 available in Southampton’s fund.

Shelter Island has no incentive policy.

HARD CHOICES
Since Mr. Cronin’s warnings here, summer intern Henry Read has been mapping existing aged septic systems on the Island, an initial step in quantifying the problem. Once that work is complete, the Town Board will face the politically volatile issue of how to finance necessary upgrades.

Under current code, only new construction or major renovations of existing structures require newer and more effective systems.

There’s nothing to require other homeowners with antiquated systems to change them and no provision for all taxpayers to share in upgrades.

What’s more, Ms. Berry said most people with septic systems have no knowledge about maintenance. The general attitude is that nothing needs to be done unless there’s a backup or stench.

The song environmentalists have been singing to anyone who will listen hasn’t struck a chord with state officials yet. But Suffolk County legislators have begun to be more supportive and willing to provide some money.