WQI recommends Center water testing
The Water Quality Improvement Advisory Board is recommends the Water Advisory Committee receive $25,000 to pay for enhanced water testing in the Center triangle. It will now fall to the Town Board to make the final decision about the spending.
But before the Town Board can vote, it awaits a report Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams is expected to get from a meeting of the East End Supervisors and Mayors this week. That’s because there has been discussion about changes in how WQI money, which comes from a real estate transfer tax paid by purchasers of Island properties, can be used.
This week, WAC Chairman Andrew Chapman made the case for using WQI money last Thursday to render data he said can’t be determined from testing done in the area in 2023. Among missing data was testing for contaminants in addition to nitrates. “Nitrates don’t travel alone,” Mr. Chapman told WQI members.
He needs data from almost all zones in that area that can enable determination of other dangerous elements that can affect drinking water for residents and those using water from public buildings in the area. “What else is in that wastewater?” he posed the question. “We really don’t know the answer,” he said.
With no industry in the Center triangle, wells are under the influence of septics, he said. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services Bureau of Drinking Water would conduct the tests, collecting the samples and analyzing them. Participants would get their full results, but the Town would only get results by zone without identifying specific properties.
The owners would have to pay $100 for the test but would be reimbursed once the Department of Health confirms it has gathered and analyzed samples. That would come from the $25,000 Mr. Chapman has sought.
Assuming the WQI money can be used, members of the WAC would review the zones it wants to test and approach property owners they would choose for testing based on some baseline information they received from the 2023 testing.
Why the ongoing focus on the Center triangle? “This is a concern that’s been talked about for years,” Mr. Chapman said. Getting the new data would inform the public debate, he said. “This is about drinking water,” he said. “It’s important to fix it long term.” WQI Chairman James Eklund was clear in favoring a new, more expensive round of testing. As his committee members discussed the possible payment for the new round of tests, it became obvious the others would follow suit in their recommendation.
As for who would be responsible for remedying situations identified, public buildings in the Center would have to be at the cost of taxpayers and whatever grants the Town might get for such undertakings. But individual property owners would be expected to make their own decisions: Live with the results; opt for filters to clean their drinking water; pay for innovative alternative septic systems with aid from State, County and local grants; or take the advice from qualified experts about how to address problems they want to correct.
No one knows how many of those who participated in the 2023 testing may have taken steps to filter drinking water and/or have I/A systems installed. What is known is Suffolk County has grown increasingly aggressive about solving water quality issues and demonstrated that commitment with increases in grants. But the County could, at some point, mandate installation of I/A systems.
