Environmental group unveils wastewater action plan

In an effort to protect the environment, the New York League of Conservation Voters has unveiled a four-point plan to fix the region’s ailing wastewater systems and polluted waterways.

At a press conference on Aug. 14 on West Bay Drive in Long Beach, members of the league, Long Beach City Council members, State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg and local environmentalists called on county, state and federal officials to develop a comprehensive financing strategy.

Titled Wastewater Infrastructure Investment: An Action Agenda for Long Island, the NYLCV report is aimed at guiding the region’s elected leaders to take action.

“Sewage contamination of our waterways and drinking-water sources is one of the biggest challenges facing Long Island,” said NYLCV Chairman Michael Posillico. “Our infrastructure has been underfunded for far too long, and the health of Long Island residents and the environment is at serious risk. Our elected leaders … must work together … to resolve this critical problem.”

“Quite frankly, the wastewater systems on Long Island are broken and there are some serious problems,” said NYLCV spokesman Daniel Hendrick.

Hendrick said that the report was based on a meeting held in June with Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and business and environmental groups to establish a “productive” dialogue about Long Island’s wastewater concerns and map out potential remedies.

The plan addresses Mangano’s proposal to create a public-private partnership for Nassau County’s wastewater management system, and suggests that the county immediately undertake an independent analysis of the costs associated with the plan.

The report also calls for the creation of a Suffolk County Wastewater Management District to lessen the cost burden on communities that need urgent wastewater upgrades; an increase in state funding through the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council and the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation; and an increase in federal support for infrastructure investment.

Additionally, the plan calls on Long Island’s congressional delegation to advocate for more reliable and consistent funding for municipalities, saying that federal support for wastewater infrastructure has declined significantly in recent years.

“Our local facilities desperately need to be upgraded, and it’s absolutely critical that we have both federal and state support,” said City Council President Len Torres.

Organizers said that they held the press conference in Long Beach because of its recent history of environmental issues. In 2010, the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant, which serves roughly 40 percent of Nassau County and discharges approximately 70 million gallons of wastewater per day into Reynolds Channel, was cited for numerous violations by the State Department of Environmental Conservation after officials discovered that the plant had for months been releasing partially treated sewage in greater concentrations than allowed by environmental law. County officials attributed the problem to malfunctioning equipment, and last year the County Legislature earmarked $3 million for new equipment and upgrades at the facility.

DEC officials said the plant has taken steps to limit the discharge of partially treated solids, and the recent discharge has been below or very close to legal limits.

Still, Morris Kramer, a civic and environmental activist from Atlantic Beach, said the water in Reynolds Channel is basically brown. “We had a whole summer of 2010 where this water was putrid,” Kramer said, “but this is what it is right now, and we’re still not getting it fixed, and there’s a good chance we may never get it fixed, whether it’s private or not. It’s going to be quite expensive, and we’re not sure exactly what’s going to happen.”

In an effort to eliminate 25 percent of the county’s $3 billion debt, Mangano announced a proposal to sell or lease three of the county’s sewage treatment plants to a private company in February. The plan calls for the sale of the Glen Cove Sewage Plant, the Cedar Creek Sewage Plant in Wantagh and the Bay Park Sewage Plant in East Rockaway for roughly $1 billion.