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John Hallman bows out from the WAC

 

JULIE LANE PHOTO |  Water Advisory Committee Chairman John Hallman.
JULIE LANE PHOTO |
Water Advisory Committee Chairman John Hallman.

“Believe it or not, there’s a lot of politics on the Island.”

John Hallman’s comment to the Hay Beach Property Association Saturday at St. Mary’s Church drew laughter. But it was a theme that echoed throughout the presentations he and Town Engineer John Cronin  made about water quality.

“It’s time for me to move on,” Mr. Hallman said, reiterating the message he sent to the Town Board asking not to be reappointed for another term on the Water Advisory Committee. He has been committee chairman since the initiation of the group in 1986.

Perhaps the issue came to a head in the past two years as Mr. Hallman also served on the Irrigation Committee, often finding himself at odds with his colleagues and ultimately deploring the fact that a ban on automatic irrigation systems that was to be implemented in 2013 was overturned.

As a professional, he knows the condition of many Island wells he treats for problems of salt water intrusion and various contaminants. His present work with the West Neck Water District and past service with both Dering Harbor and Shelter Island Heights water systems, prompted him to conclude, “We have plenty of water,” but quality is what’s threatened.

Eventually, the Island will have no choice but to bring in the Suffolk County Water Authority, he predicted.

Hay Beach residents, whose houses by and large rest on high ground, don’t face a lot of the problems he sees in low-lying areas of the Island, Mr. Hallman said.

Among those problems are elevated levels of iron, nitrates and low pH levels.

Although the Irrigation Committee could identify slightly more than 100 automatic irrigation systems on the Island, Mr. Hallman said he knows there are far more because he sees them in operation as he makes his rounds attending to wells here.

“I find fault with the town Building Department,” Mr. Hallman said, for not cracking down on those who failed to register their systems as required by the original irrigation law passed in 2003.

All modern systems have been registered with the town, Building Department Inspector and Zoning Officer Bill Banks said. He estimated there are now about 130 such systems booked by his department.

But older systems that may have been installed years ago only were registered if owners did so after the 2003 law was passed. The Building Department would have no way of knowing about their existence unless a property owner or a neighbor reported it, Mr. Banks said.