Shelter Island Water Advisory  Committee member wants action

A member of the Water Advisory Committee challenged his colleagues Monday afternoon to do more to clarify the situation and push the Town Board to define a policy to deal with the issues of quantity and quality of drinking water on the Island.

Andrew Chapman said there has been a lot of talk, but it’s not sufficient given the mandate the Town has to ensure residents have access to clean drinking water.

While Water Advisory Committee (WAC) Chairman Peter Grand defended efforts to date, he reminded members that the role of the committee is advisory and it can’t take action.

What Mr. Chapman said he wants to :

• Define what needs there are throughout the Town so all residents have access to clean water.

• Define goals.

• Identify options for addressing problems and determine the cost of those options.

• Address specific information about what responsibilities could be met by tax and/or grant money and what property owners would have to pay.

Noting the months that have passed since the Town paid to test water in the Center triangle for high nitrate levels, Mr. Chapman reiterated that there has been no action and no clear explanation about alternatives for dealing with problems.

“I’m not driving to a particular solution,” Mr. Chapman said. But he would like to have a clear statement of options and their related costs.

Deputy Town Supervisor Meg Larsen, who is the liaison between the committee and Town Board, advised the WAC to put together a clear statement defining its advice to the Town Board with options and present them at a Town Board work session.

Mr. Grand said a starter for him would be widespread testing of water with a full spectrum of identities of contaminants in Island locations and information on salt water intrusion, including Silver Beach and the Menantic Peninsula.

Town Engineer Joe Finora said he would assist Mr. Chapman in drafting a statement for consideration by the full committee, and either present it himself, or join in presenting it to the Town Board.

WAC member and head of the Silver Beach Association Doug Sherrod said the cost of testing should be met by the Town using funds managed by the Water Quality Improvement Advisory Board, which paid for the Center tests.

It would be up to the Town Board to make a final decision on paying for testing. Mr. Grand said at a cost of $100 per test, residents in areas like Silver Beach and Menantic should have sufficient money to pay for their own tests. He wasn’t necessarily recommending that as a course of action, but simply commenting that just as Fresh Pond neighbors have paid to determine the problems in that body of water, and improve water quality, other residents concerned with their water quality might want to push ahead with testing even if public money isn’t forthcoming.

Following up on a recent WAC-sponsored discussion about smart irrigation practices, the group put together a subcommittee similar to the one that worked on legislation and an educational brochure dealing with fertilizers. Volunteers include Mr. Grand, WAC member Lisa Shaw, Ms.  Larsen, Heights Property Owners Corporation General Manager Stella Lagudis, Mark Cappellino, Sean Davy, Jay Card Jr. and Elise Horning. With work soon to get underway on the library extension project, Ms. Lagudis offered space at the Heights office for meetings of the group.

Tomorrow afternoon, Thursday, at 5 p.m. at the library, the WAC is sponsoring a forum on water initiatives already in existence — West Neck Water and Dering Harbor, both being managed by the Suffolk County Water Authority, and Shelter Island Heights.

The discussion is expected to include information about other areas that may have interest, or are already exploring, means of providing clean drinking water.

Former supervisor Hoot Sherman was at Monday’s WAC meeting to talk about how the West Neck Water District first got started in 1997.

There were people then concerned about a lack of potable water, and he and former councilman Glenn Waddington and former West Neck Water District Board member Ann Dunbar thought the Town had a role to play in its establishment.

He said there were plenty of naysayers who thought Town government should not play a role, but they got the ball rolling and ,“We just pulled it together,” Mr. Sherman said. “That’s the way we used to do things out here,” he said.