SUFFOLK CLOSEUP: Concerns About Suffolk's Water Table Are Real

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

A just-released 83-page hydrology report done by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ignores the proverbial “elephant in the room” when it comes to saltwater intrusion in the groundwater to Suffolk County’s west.

A major cause in Nassau County of saltwater intrusion and the lowering of its water table—the freshwater aquifers below ground—has been its sewers which discharge effluent into the ocean and surrounding bays and other coastal waters.

That’s the key reason that John Turner, senior conservation policy advocate at Islip-based Seatuck Environmental Association, has long pointed to as to why in Nassau—which is 85% sewered—lakes, ponds and streams, the “uppermost expression of the aquifer system,” have lowered and there has been saltwater intrusion in the aquifers on which Nassau depends as its “sole source” of potable water. Hempstead Lake, he notes for example, now “is Hempstead Pond.”

All of Nassau County’s sewage treatment plants discharge their effluent rather than, as Turner and Seatuck have been in the forefront in calling for, recharging highly treated wastewater back into the underground water table. 

Says Turner, former legislative director of the New York State Water Resource Commission, of the USGS-DEC report: “There’s no mentioning of sewering and ocean or coastal water discharge. They really just focus on the phenomenon itself and discuss the magnitude of saltwater intrusion and the trend, but they don’t really explain, discuss the causes.”

“But clearly a major reason for the saltwater intrusion is because of the diminishment in the size of the freshwater aquifer. You have less freshwater and the saltwater pinches in.”

“And so,” says Turner, “Nassau County adopting a policy of extensive sewering with a decision to dump the water along the coast is the reason why saltwater intrusion is occurring even though they don’t mention it in their study.”

As to why the role of sewage treatment plants in Nassau is not included in the report, telephone calls made to the USGS were not returned. Initially, DEC emailed: “Unfortunately, we are unable to facilitate an interview at this time.” However, when I noted that I would have a focus in my column about the report ignoring the “elephant in the room”—Nassau’s sewage treatment plants discharging effluent—DEC informed me:  

“Thank you for the additional information and the chance to respond. Please note that Phase 1 focused on the aquifer system beneath Kings, Queens, and Nassau counties and provides valuable information about how the aquifer reacts under various scenarios, including sea level rise, drought, pumping, and more….DEC anticipates more detailed analysis of the phase 1 scenario results and future phase 2 and 3 results will lead to more understanding of areas and issues of concern. DEC will use this tool to predict the outcomes of various water withdrawal management strategies. Based on current and future model scenario outcomes, DEC will work with partners to develop policies and best management practices to protect Long Island’s groundwater resources.”

For Suffolk, the sewage treatment plant omission is very important, for on Election Day in November there will be a referendum raising the current county’s sales tax of 8.625% by 1/8^th of a cent to raise money for sewers and high-tech septic systems. If the referendum passes, a fund would be set up and it is estimated that $3 billion to $4 billion would be raised in coming decades, half for sewering, half for the high-tech Innovative/Advanced septic systems.

But will these sewers be like those operating in Nassau, discharging effluent into the ocean, surrounding bays and other coastal waters—and putting our water table in jeopardy, causing saltwater intrusion in our sole source of potable water, too?

Suffolk County is 25% sewered and many of the sewage treatment plants here also discharge effluent. Indeed, the largest sewage treatment plant in Suffolk County is the Bergen Point Wastewater Treatment Plant in West Babylon built to dump 30 million gallons of wastewater a day through an outfall pipe into the Atlantic Ocean.

In doing investigative reporting for the daily Long Island Press back when this plant was built 50 years ago, I wrote articles in which opponents of it warned of impacts to the water table in western Suffolk by its discharging of wastewater. Decades have gone by and I am glad to say that Suffolk County now has a county executive very concerned about this. Recently, Turner and Enrico Nardone, executive director of Seatuck, met with that county executive—Ed Romaine—along with top members of his new administration.

Romaine as a county legislator and Brookhaven Town supervisor, was critical of discharge of wastewater from sewage treatment plants and instead was for recharging highly treated wastewater back into the underground water table. He continued that at the meeting. And at it he directed that the county explore sending effluent from the Bergen Point plant to irrigate the adjacent county-owned Bergen Point Golf Course. There is precedent. In 2016, the “Riverhead reuse project” began sending wastewater from the Riverhead Sewage Treatment Plant to irrigate the nearby Indian Island County Golf Course. 

The USGS-DEC report is to be followed next year by one about Suffolk alone. It must address the consequences in Suffolk County of dumping rather than reusing wastewater.

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 at Old Westbury and the author of six books.