Community forum focuses on cleaning up drinking water

“Don’t dig for water under the outhouse!”

The advice is centuries old, but applies today for many Islanders, according to former town engineer John Cronin, speaking at an October 14 community forum on water at the school auditorium hosted by The Nature Conservancy and Daniel Gale Sothebys International Realty.

Mr. Cronin pointed out that while plumbing has moved indoors, septic systems on the Island are generally little more than the holes in the ground that sat beneath the old outhouses.

“All of our waste essentially ends up in a hole in the ground,” the engineer said, Some water runs off into waterways while the rest leeches into the groundwater and ends up in the aquifer that Islanders draw into their wells for drinking and other purposes.

The water forum was organized by Mashomack Preserve Director Jeremy Samuelson and Daniel Gale real estate professional Linda McCarthy, who is on the Board of Directors of Mashomack Preserve.

Mark Mobius, chairman of the Water Quality Improvement Projects Advisory Board also spoke at the forum, which was well-attended by an estimated 65 people on a cloudy and rainy afternoon.

“Our waters are in decline,” Mr. Samuelson said, describing it as “a major problem and our work is cut out for us.”

The buildup of nitrogen is the principal culprit, he added, which is why Suffolk County and the town are looking at advanced septic systems capable of reducing nitrogen content. Nitrogen poses severe health dangers, Mr. Cronin said, particularly to young children, pregnant women and elderly residents, since it interferes with the ability of oxygen to reach organs in the body,

Mr. Cronin said an old adage he learned in college might not apply to the clean water crisis here. He was taught that the solution to pollution is dilution, but even if the wastes draining into the aquifer are diluted, he’s not convinced anyone would want to drink what’s coming from most wells today.

He lives in the Center where water quality is particularly poor because of the population density, the presence of the school, Legion Hall and government buildings in the area and aged septic systems that are little more than holes in the ground.

“A cesspool is not an ideal way to handle water,” the engineer said. Sand and gravel, once thought to be good filters for water fail to filter nitrogen, Mr. Cronin said.

But newly approved septic systems that drastically reduce nitrogen discharges don’t come cheap, Mr. Mobius said, which has been a concern of the Water Quality Board. The systems average about $20,000, money not easily accessible to many Island residents.

The county has begun a grant program to subsidize new systems, but given its need to spread the money throughout the county, the Island won’t see much of those funds, town officials have said.

The county program is also concentrating on areas where runoff into surrounding waters occurs, Mr. Samuelson said, which may not help many Islanders. While the Near Shore District on the Island is considered a focus to improve water quality, it’s the Center that is most in need of advanced septic systems, he said.

That’s where the town’s grants can have an impact. But the Water Quality Board is still working out details on what criteria to grant funds and how to provide advance money for those without the money to spend for needed engineering studies.

Ultimately, the Water Quality Board makes no decisions, but presents information and recommendations to the Town Board for final decisions.

Among the recommendations being made to the Town Board is to enact a law requiring those building new structures to install the advanced septic systems. Those who are doing construction involving 50 percent or more of the original structure would also be required to install advanced septic systems, Mr. Mobius said.

He also noted that the new systems must be maintained annually at a cost of between $250 and $350 a year.

But monitoring of maintenance is the county’s responsibility and once a system is installed, the county will require proof that the annual maintenance is taking place to continue the permit to operate the system.

While the cost of maintenance may seem high, it actually is about the same that people should be paying to have their aged cesspools pumped every three years, Mr. Mobius said. Unfortunately, many Islanders aren’t arranging for that routine maintenance and sometimes don’t even know where their septic systems are, he said.

A key question arose from the audience about the effect a single homeowner would have on his own water supply and that of his neighbors if he installed an advanced system.

Mr. Cronin called it an “incremental effect.” Everyone who upgrades is helping the community, he said.
Improving water quality in the Center are plans to install an advanced system that is paid partially with grant money and will serve both the Legion Hall and Shelter Island School.

An improved septic system at Wades Beach will be operational by next summer, Mr. Cronin said. And there’s an effort to improve septics at Crescent Beach.

The Water Quality Board is expected to recommend that some money be used at the Wades Beach project and, perhaps, to assist the Fresh Pond Homeowners Association with its efforts to clean up that body of water, Councilman Jim Colligan said, which was affected by an algae bloom this summer.

Other neighborhood associations could get involved in projects to work on similar efforts, he added.
Supervisor Jim Dougherty announced that an aide to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer had told him the town would qualify for some funds to help eliminate harmful algae blooms in surrounding waters. Mr. Schumer’s bill to secure $22 million annually for that purpose passed the Senate and needs to go to the House for its approval, he said.

That 65 people showed up at the two-hour forum gave Mr. Samuelson hope that Islanders are becoming alert to the water problems, he said, and demonstrating an interest in making necessary changes to protect their community from water pollution.

“We can get this job done,” he said about incrementally working toward a point where all residential and commercial operations have advanced septic systems.