Suffolk Closeup - County Must Address Water Quality And Water Quantity

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

On Long Island there’s been “a lot of focus on water quality but not enough on water quantity,” says John Turner. Mr. Turner is a leading environmentalist on Long Island who for years has been involved in water issues. 

He was legislative director of the New York State Water Resource Commission and director of Brookhaven Town’s Division of Environmental Protection. He has taught courses on environmental issues at Stony Brook University. He is author of Exploring the Other Island: A Seasonal Nature Guide to Long Island. He’s conservation policy advocate at Seatuck Environmental Association in Islip. 

“It’s a constant challenge to inform people on how they get their water—where it comes from,” says Mr. Turner of Setauket. Long Islanders “don’t see” the “groundwater reservoir” below, their sole source of potable water. 

There’s been concern increasing concern over the years about chemical contaminants in the island’s water supply, he notes. But quantity is an equivalent problem.

Nassau County has been hit by a lowering of its water table because 85% of the county is sewered and all these sewage treatment plants rely on outfall of wastewater into surrounding waterways.

In Suffolk, 30% sewered, the Southwest Sewer District’s Bergen Point Sewage Treatment Plant in West Babylon sends millions of gallons a day of wastewater through an outfall pipe into the Atlantic Ocean, and smaller sewage plants send wastewater into bays, the Long Island Sound and other waterways. These include the sewage treatment plants in Port Jefferson, Patchogue, Greenport and Northport. 

In Nassau, lakes, ponds and streams which are the “uppermost expression of the aquifer system, have dropped considerably.” Hempstead Lake “is Hempstead Pond.” 

It doesn’t have to be this way, Mr. Turner emphasizes. In Riverhead, starting in 2016, the Riverhead Sewage Treatment Plant began sending treated effluent to the county’s adjoining Indian Island Golf Course. This has provided This has provided irrigation and nitrogen-laden wastewater “no longer finding its way into the marine environment” to cause algae blooms. 

The key, says Mr. Turner, is water “reuse.” 

“We’ve been calling for the counties or the State of New York to put together an island-wide water reuse roadmap.” 

For if Nassau and Suffolk destroy their underground water supply—as Brooklyn and Queens did years ago from over-pumping and entry into the water table of saltwater—there’ll be no rescue from New York City, he says. 

The city gets its water from upstate reservoirs. There’s been talk recently of Nassau buying water from the city. But its reservoirs are near capacity. “New York City has not been welcoming Nassau County with open arms,” says Mr. Turner. Another alternative is desalinization but that’s “incredibly energy intense and expensive.” 

Water reuse is a Long Island essential. 

A major new sewage system in Suffolk to include outfall is being pushed by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone for the massive proposed “Ronkonkoma Hub” project of 1,450 apartments, many offices and retail stores. 

Mr. Bellone, despite the opposition of Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine, seeks to have the wastewater from the “Ronkonkoma Hub” brought by pipe to the Bergen Point Sewage Treatment Plant and sent through its outfall pipe out into the Atlantic. 

“I am so opposed to this,” says Mr. Romaine. He is for a recharge system to provide tertiary treatment of the wastewater and send it back into the underground water table. “When I was a county legislator, we approved a sewage treatment plant for Ronkonkoma,” he notes. “Pumping the wastewater miles away and sending it out into the ocean is a terrible mistake. This is going to impact on the aquifer,” says Mr. Romaine. “The level of Lake Ronkonkoma is going to drop. People are talking about water quantity but we most also talk about water quantity.” 

The need for water reuse is a global issue. I Googled the two words—water reuse—and what came up were 159,000 references. Yes, 159,000. Among the first was an extensive 2018 report in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science. Titled “Water Reuse: From Ancient to Modern Times and the Future,” it was researched and written by a team of scientists. It declares: “Today, water reclamation and reuse projects are being planned and implemented throughout the world. Recycled water is now used for almost any purpose including potable use….Reclaimed water has become a new, additional, alternative, reliable water supply source.” 

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.