Water, water everywhere, but is it safe to drink?

More than 20 people gathered under the tent at the Shelter Island Library last Thursday to talk about what communities can do about assuring access to clean water.

“We’re not going to get anywhere if this is one community against another,” said Water Advisory Committee (WAC) Chairman Peter Grand. He moderated the discussion on behalf of the Water Advisory Committee.

Representatives of several neighborhood groups are already engaged in various efforts to determine water quality in their areas and explore ways to deal with problems they may find. In addition, there was discussion of existing water systems operated by the Heights Property Owners Corporation; Suffolk County Water Authority that manages water for the Village of Dering Harbor and the West Neck Water District.

General Manager of the Heights Property Owners Corporation Stella Lagudis spoke about the oldest system on the Island serving residents in that area.

The Heights water system has operated since the 1880s and its first wastewater treatment plant was built in 1988 and underwent a significant upgrade in 2005, Ms. Lagudis said. The HPOC continues to maintain and upgrade the system, she said.

Heights residents have been embraced the concept of being self sufficient, Ms. Lagudis said, declaring, “Our water quality is good.”

Customers pay for the independence of having their own system and have been willing to do so, Ms. Lagudis said. Occasionally, meter readings show a user drawing more water than typical and a brief conversation generally reveals the reason and elicits cooperation from the property owner, she said. But someone who might perpetually overuse water resources could be removed from the system.

“All of this is built on totally good will,” Ms. Lagudis said. “Everyone cooperates,” she said.

The WAC forum was conceived with the hope Islanders would learn about various initiatives and that would be a spark plug to encourage resident groups throughout the Island to follow in the footsteps of the Fresh Pond Neighbors, the Menantic Creek Keepers and residents from Silver Beach and the Menantic Peninsula.

All have taken steps toward improved water quality.

Fresh Pond Neighbors were leaders of such efforts and have been successful in forming a public-private partnership with the Town to clean up Fresh Pond. That has enabled applications for grant money that resulted in determining the cause of problems there and a solution to deal them. Members of the Fresh Pond Neighbors Association and other donors have contributed money to the effort and pledged to pay the $10,000 annual cost for interim cleanup pending what they hope will be grant funding forthcoming to implement a permanent solution. The other neighborhood groups are in various fledgling stages of efforts to identify their water quality. They have been supported by the Fresh Pond group that has shared its experiences of how to go about the effort to get water tests done as a first step.

In recent weeks, there has been some tension about efforts to gain public funds for water tests.

President of the Silver Beach Association Doug Sherrod, who also sits on the WAC, has argued that since tests conducted in the Center triangle area were paid for with money from the Water Quality Improvement Advisory Board, the same should be done for Silver Beach and Menantic Peninsula neighbors.

His concern that might not happen came when Councilman Benjamin Dyett said he did not want any money to be spent testing water in other areas until the Town takes action in some way on the results of the Center tests that revealed some areas in need of serious remediation. But nothing has been forthcoming from the Town about paying for any projects other than discussion of septic improvements in Center municipal buildings. Even that discussion has been stalled since the previous administration pushed for a single treatment system that ran into criticism from Town residents who thought it too expensive. They argued individual I/A systems for the various buildings would be sufficient and maintained the cost would be less.

The first time there was any substantial discussion of the septic systems by the current administration was at this week’s Town Board work session. (See separate story page 5).

In any case, while cleaning up septics is critical, it still doesn’t address the other side of the coin — assuring that water in wells is not contaminated.

But a statement Mr. Grand made at the forum might be a jumping off place for neighborhoods going forward.

He pointed out that whether the Town pays for water testing or individual property owners pay the cost, ultimately, taxpayers bear the burden one way or the other.

True, the cost of the Center testing came from money generated by a transfer tax paid by purchasers of Island property under the Community Preservation Fund (CPF) legislation that allows for up to 20 percent of CPF money to be spent on water improvement projects.

More extensive testing could come out of the same source or could come from the Town’s general fund.

Sean Davy raised a question about whether use of cisterns to store water would be a good move. He also asked about what has become a proliferation of reverse osmosis systems in some neighborhoods, noting a number of Silver Beach residents have opted to use them. He worried that widespread use of them in a drought could result in pulling water down.

There was no clear answer, but Mr. Grand said simply, “The devil’s in the details.”

There was a brief discussion of neighborhoods — the Village of Dering Harbor and the West Neck Water District having Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA) manage their systems. There was a day when mention of SCWA was greeted with the same disdain as any mention of replacing ferries with bridges.

For years, that’s how some Board members of the West Neck Water District felt, Mr. Grand said. But overtime, they came to embrace SCWA managing their system.

SCWA officials have clearly said they have no desire to either bring water to the Island or take water away because the cost would be prohibitive.

Mr. Grand spoke about the beginnings of the Fresh Pond Neighbors Association and Alice Deupree offered thoughts on efforts to return Menantic Creek  to the pure conditions that once were present but today the water there is often murky.

Whether the two-hour discussion will give rise to more Islanders seeking water tests and banding together to deal with problems that might be found remains to be seen.