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Light Drizzle Fog/Mist Oyster Bay Cove board passes septic law
The Village of Oyster Bay Cove is the first municipality in Nassau County to adopt a mandate requiring residents to update their septic systems, the result of a vote by the village board on April 19. The law, which is based on similar ones in villages in Suffolk County, is meant to combat excess nitrogen in the community, which can wreak havoc on the environment.
The county’s North Shore has had a problem with rising nitrogen levels for several decades, according to Lisa Ott, president and CEO of the North Shore Land Alliance. The alliance and other environmental groups, including the Nature Conservancy and the Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District, Ott said, have been working for years to spread the word about the threat excess nitrogen poses to the area.
Ott explained that the issue is particularly important because much of the North Shore sits atop the Oyster Bay Special Groundwater Protection Area, one of two areas in the county where the focus is on maintaining open space so filtered surface water can maintain Long Island’s aquifer system. The heart of the Protection Area is the Tiffany Creek Preserve in Oyster Bay Cove, which was cited within the law as a significant factor in its decision to pass the law.
“Tiffany Creek is really important land to protect,” Ott said. “When it comes to nitrogen, its runoff can impact both the drinking water and surface water, and the reason to have low-nitrogen septic systems is that they clean out as much as 90 percent of nitrogen from the water.”
Oyster Bay Cove Mayor Charles Goulding said that the idea grew out of discussions among members of the Oyster Bay Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee, a group of mayors and other representatives of 11 municipalities in the Protection Area. The organization, founded in 2010, holds monthly meetings at which members take up environmental issues that impact them.
Goulding said that attending these meetings, and staying abreast of developments in Suffolk County, inspired him and the village board to take action. While the extensive use of fertilizer is responsible for much of the excess nitrogen in the area, another important part of the problem is the reliance on outdated and inefficient septic systems.
“The impetus was becoming aware of the nitrate and chemical issues for runoff into Long Island Sound,” Goulding said. “If you go along all the North Shore villages, the real issue is there’s very few areas that have sewers, and with a low density of housing and the inordinate expense, it’s never been done.”
While the new law does not force homeowners to immediately change their septic systems, it requires anyone constructing new buildings or making significant changes to their property to update them or install low-nitrogen systems. Any new single-family dwelling or any expansion that is at least half as large as the original structure’s square footage must have a newer system.
Officially known as Innovative/Alternative Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems, they are specially designed to remove nitrogen from wastewater. While they are more expensive than traditional systems, typically costing around $20,000 — not including installation — the county is offering residents who install them cash incentives of up to $20,000 to help offset the cost.
Local environmental organizations such as Friends of the Bay have already expressed their support for the new law. Bill Bleyer, president of the organization, encouraged other municipalities in Nassau County to look to Oyster Bay Cove as a model and enact similar laws.
“Friends of the Bay supports any action by local municipalities that will remove nitrogen pollution from our waterways,” Bleyer said, “so we encourage other villages to follow the lead of Oyster Bay Cove in fostering the replacement of old cesspools with modern septic-reducing systems and requiring them for new construction. This is a particularly opportune time to do this, with Nassau County offering $20,000 tax-free grants to install new septic systems.”
Several companies make and sell the systems, and according to Goulding, they include the FujiClean CEN Series and Norweco HydroKinetic. For a full list, visit cleanwatercash.org/clients.
Those who fail to comply with the new law will face fines of $1,000 per day. Ultimately, however, Goulding said, the goal of the law is to maintain the safety and health of the community and its environment, not to punish residents.
“The purpose of this legislation is to assure the proper siting, construction and maintenance of all individual on-site sanitary systems,” the law states in its legislative intent section, “and is intended to protect and preserve the Village’s natural resources and potable water supply and thereby the public health and safety, and to promote the installation and proper use and maintenance of low-nitrogen sanitary systems.”
