Irrigation Committee working toward December report to Board

With the clock ticking toward a December 3 deadline to compile a report for the Town Board, Irrigation Committee members were feeling the pressure at the November 7 meeting.

The committee is charged with bringing information to the board on the latest technologies available in irrigation systems along with information on how critical the water situation is on the Island. The committee’s recommendations will guide the board on whether or not to implement a complete ban on the use of automatic irrigation systems.

“We’re just treading water,” committee member John Hallman said. He was refrerring to delays in meeting hydrogeologist Ben Benvegna, who was hired to advise the committee. Mr. Benvegna works out of the White Plains office of Connecticut-based Leggette, Brashears & Graham. But Chairman Thom Milton promised he would circulate questions compiled by various committee members to the entire group in an effort to quickly come up with specifics they all want to hear addressed at their next meeting scheduled for November 21.

Mr. Benvegna has been communicating only with Mr. Milton to date, but the entire committee wants him at the next meeting to guide them on a number of technical issues before they compile their report for the Town Board.

That report, Mr. Milton said, would likely be a simple summary of information gathered to date without recommendations yet about whether the board should implement the ban on automatic irrigation systems as it had planned to do last September.

What concerned new committee member Robert Grosbard is the dissemination of information from attendees at an October 26 meeting that he charged was misleading. He pointed specifically to questions raised by member Ken Pysher who questioned whether the Island has more than one aquifer. Mr. Grosbard also questioned information from former committee member Lion Zust that new automatic drip irrigation systems use about 10 percent as much water as systems put in before new installations were banned in 2003.

Ms. Zust based her figures on information from the University of Rhode Island, and while Mr. Milton didn’t remember the source Thursday night, he told Mr. Grosbard he recalled the information coming from research Ms. Zust had gathered.

For Mr. Grosbard, it’s all about education. People need to understand what the aquifer is, how fragile it is and what salt water intrusion means to their ability to get potable water, he said. He cited several studies through the years that have all referred to Shelter Island having a limited fresh water supply that must be protected if the Island is to continue to depend on its own resources and avoid connecting to the Suffolk County Water Authority.

Mr. Hallman noted that new property owners are supposed to be given the homeowners booklet that explains water concerns on the Island, but said people don’t read it.

“You can’t fix stupid,” said building permits coordinator and committee member Mary Wilson. She added she wasn’t surprised that the turnout at the one Saturday meeting the committee held was light and while she called it “a decent showing,” she said it was “not good. If it’s important to you, get your butt here,” she said about town residents who aren’t paying attention to the issue of protecting the town’s water.

Mr. Hallman continues to lobby for implementing the ban Island-wide. He said that even if there are areas such as the Center that would appear to have sufficient water, there’s no way to get that supply through sand, gravel, rocks and clay to other areas. It moves about a foot a day and one foot vertically, he said.

There are areas of Silver Beach and other parts of the Island where salt water intrusion has been a major problem, Mr. Hallman said. On some parts of the Island, residents have to drink bottled water while using the salt water from their wells for other purposes.

That makes various areas of the Island “almost autonomous” when it comes to water supply, Mr. Milton said. People in the Center think rich residents in the Rams are taking their drinking water, but it’s not the case, he added. At the same time, people who live in the Rams have to understand how little water they have, Mr. Milton said.

Whatever decision the committee recommends and the Town Board implements, there remains the issue of enforcement, Mr. Milton said. He recommended high fines for violators.

But who would enforce the law and at what cost remains a work in progress for the committee.

Future committee meetings will be taped and can be viewed on the town’s website.