Research finds bays are polluted

Researchers at Stony Brook University have confirmed what many Long Islanders say they already know: the Western Bays are polluted.

According to preliminary data released by researchers at Stony Brook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Studies last week, the water in the bays between East Rockaway and Long Beach — an area that includes Reynolds Channel — have an abundance of nitrogen, which fuels the growth of seaweed.

The nitrogen comes from the treated effluent discharged from four sewage treatment plants in the area, which state and county officials say release 64.5 million gallons of wastewater into the bays each day. Researchers also discovered contaminants found in cosmetics, fabric softener and disinfectants, and they determined that the effluent does not flush out into the ocean quickly and often gets stuck in the bays.

The research began last August, after State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) and State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) secured $600,000 to fund what they called the most comprehensive study of the bays ever conducted.

Researchers hope not only to measure the contaminants in the Western Bays, but to improve the water quality. They said they are examining historical data as well as the various contaminants, sediments, runoff, marine life and water depth. Ultimately, the goal is to pinpoint exactly what is being released into the bays and devise ways to make them cleaner.

Researchers said that the two-year study would be completed by late 2012. The preliminary findings were presented to local officials at a meeting in Mineola on Feb. 10.

“Although we’ve known that there’s pollution in the bay, we desperately needed this scientific evidence so that the county can secure federal funding to commence cleanup,” Weisenberg said.

The findings came as no surprise to many, since New York state has deemed the water body impaired, said West Pine Street resident Scott Bochner, who posted several videos on YouTube documenting illegal discharge from the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant and who has been calling on officials to address the issue.

“The findings are proving scientifically what we already know,” Bochner said. “But the study is very important because you don’t get federal funding to correct the problem unless you have a problem. The study is going to show that we have a problem.”

The preliminary findings, according to Larry Swanson, the study’s lead investigator and a professor at Stony Brook, indicate that the water in the bays is choked with nutrients, primarily nitrogen. Nitrogen spurs the growth of seaweed, algae and other vegetation that depletes oxygen in the water, killing marine life and leaving heaps of decaying seaweed.

And while many residents may assume that their toilets flush into the bay and out into the ocean, Swanson said that the preliminary research proves otherwise. Effluent and solids get stuck in the bay, he said, with few pathways for release into the ocean. As a result, pollutants have been found in the sediment at the bottom of the bays.

“With what we know about tides and currents that move material about, [the preliminary data] shows that most of the discharge is staying in Reynolds Channel,” Swanson said. “The tide oscillates back and forth, and the tidal energy is insufficient to bring it to Jones Inlet.”

He said that the concentration of sewage-related contaminants in the bay sediment is comparable to those found in Jamaica Bay and New York Harbor.

“The only contaminants we tested for were sewage-related contaminants, things that we know are put into sewage that are man-made — fabric softeners, hair spray, prescription drugs,” Swanson said. “So we’re seeing sewage-related particles from things that ordinary people flush down the toilet.”

Pollution tied to recent

environmental concerns

The preliminary findings come on the heels of two major environmental issues that have plagued Reynolds Channel in recent months. Last June, residents of Point Lookout were overwhelmed — some even sickened — by powerful, foul odors emitted by decaying seaweed. And last fall, the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant was hit with numerous violations by the state Department of Environmental Conservation after it was discovered that the plant had been releasing partially treated sewage in greater concentrations than allowed by environmental law for months, which county officials attributed to malfunctioning equipment at the plant.

“I think it’s all tied in,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, who serves on a committee that supported the study. “The preliminary data is showing a cry for help for the Western Bays, and the main focus is the discharge from the sewage treatment plants. Obviously Bay Park is the elephant in the room.”

Esposito said that the Bay Park plant releases 58.5 million gallons of discharge per day. In January the county earmarked $3 million for new equipment and upgrades at the facility to address the issue. 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, Swanson said that sewage-treatment facilities must find ways to significantly reduce nitrogen production. The research, also known as the Total Maximum Daily Load Study of the Western Bay Quality Monitoring System, is expected to help secure federal funding to reduce the nitrogen found in the effluent discharge.

Total maximum daily load is the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can absorb and still safely meet water quality standards, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Overall, the impact of the study is supposed to help the state determine how much nitrogen can actually be put into the water safely,” Swanson said. “These studies will be used to determine what the total maximum daily load is for the Western Bays. In order to improve the characteristics of the water, we need to start trying to remove contaminants, and the likely candidate here is nitrogen.”

Swanson said that removing nitrogen from sewage effluent is an expensive process, and that treatment plants would have to implement a chemical process that would cost millions of dollars.

Esposito said that the state DEC currently has no total maximum daily load figures for the bays, and that the study will help the agency set pollution limits. “First we need the science and then we need to craft a solution, which will have to be multifaceted,” she said. “… Good science leads to access to federal and state funding.”

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