By:Scott Brinton
Estuary council issues recommendations and convenes public hearings
On a clear day, the saltwater bays that hug Nassau's south shore glimmer like giant mirrors. A gentle ocean breeze might blow through the abundant reed grasses, while hundreds of sea birds ply the shallow wetlands for a meal of small fish.
This natural habitat appears pristine at first blush. Appears, however, is the operative word.
Taxed by decades of development dating back to World War II, the bays are suffering from heavy-duty pollution that threatens to destroy them.
In 1994, the State Legislature set aside 173 square miles of bays and surrounding shoreline communities, from the Atlantic Beach Bridge to Shinnecock Inlet in Suffolk County, as the South Shore Estuary Reserve. Estuaries, fragile but vital ecosystems where freshwater rivers meet saltwater bays, serve as breeding grounds for numerous birds, animals and fish.
Home to 1.5 million people, the reserve takes in all or part of the Towns of Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Babylon, Islip, Brookhaven and Southampton, the City of Long Beach and 31 villages.
The legislature also impaneled a 23-member estuary council to develop a reserve management plan. The council, comprising governmental, environmental, academic, business, recreation and citizen representatives, recently issued its five-year estuary plan and convened two meetings to hear public concerns about its proposal.
Repairing south-shore bays is a massive proposition, according to the council. Already, the state has pumped $16 million into more than 70 projects to help stem pollution and restore aquatic habitats in these waters.
An additional $98 million is needed to carry out all the council's recommendations. Those funds should come from private and government sources, including federal, state and local agencies, the estuary report says. Compliance with the council, however, is entirely voluntary.
Storm water, greatest worry
Many of the 33 residents who spoke during the March 1 hearing at Freeport Village Hall reiterated the council's biggest concern in its report: That storm-water runoff is choking the life out of the southern bays.
Atlantic Beach environmentalist Morris Kramer told the council: "The problem is Reynolds Channel is dying."
Kramer said pesticides and fertilizers from home and golf-course lawns flow into the bays via storm drains, which carry rainwater from streets. The chemicals then accelerate seaweed growth, depleting saltwater oxygen, which marine life needs to survive.
Runoff can also cause bacterial infections among shellfish in the bays. Such infections result from pet feces left on streets by residents, the estuary report says.
The council recommends that local governments enact pooper-scooper laws requiring cleanup of pet droppings. The Town of Hempstead already has, but Oyster Bay, Babylon and Islip have not.
According to the estuary report, some 34,000 acres of South Shore hard clam beds have been closed because of pollution.
Vincent Greco, who has lived in Freeport and owned a marina there for 35 years, noted that storm-water runoff contains industrial chemicals in addition to fertilizers and pesticides. A $2-million 1997 study of the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway found little chemical pollution from the plant, but many highly toxic substances, such as mercury and arsenic, in local bays.
The reason for those substances is "industrial pressure," said Charles Harmon, an engineer with New Jersey-based McLaren-Hart, which conducted the Bay Park study.
Greco, who lives near Freeport's factory district, said, "I don't think we should have any industrial parks on the waterfront. It betrays what we're trying to do here."
Jeff Fullmer is state program director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment and an estuary council member. In a telephone interview, Fullmer said, "There may in fact be a bigger problem [with runoff] in an industrial" rather than residential area.
The council says local governments should upgrade street drains to better control runoff. Monies from the state's 1996 Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act and Environmental Protection Fund are available for such projects.
Council members also recommended that residents and business owners reduce use of pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals.
Additionally, people should look for ways to keep storm water on their properties. Fullmer said, "If you have waterfront property, rather than have the lawn go up to the bulkhead, have a strip of native vegetation between you and the water to buffer the stream."
He also recommended replacing impermeable surfaces, such as blacktop driveways, with surfaces that absorb storm water, such as gravel driveways.
Sewage treatment needs treatment
The estuary council also cited treated sewage water, which discharges from local plants, as a contaminant of south-shore bays. The estuary report says that treated effluent "can cause water-quality degradation."
The report pinpointed discharge outlets in Bay Park, Long Beach, West Long Beach, Lawrence and Jones Beach as concerns.
The council recommended that local government agencies regularly inspect these sites and upgrade septic systems to make them cleaner and more efficient.
Atlantic Beach resident Michael Weiss noted, "There is new technology that virtually renders our current [septic] systems obsolete."
Christine Marzigliano, chairwoman of the Cedar Creek Health Risk Assessment Committee, said she was unaware that the county's Bay Park sewage plant dumps effluent into area bays. The Cedar Creek plant in Wantagh, she said, releases it in the Atlantic Ocean.
"I can guarantee you this will be investigated," Marzigliano said. "Possibly, the outflow pipe [from Bay Park] will have to go out to the ocean."
Air quality at issue
Merrick resident Joseph Kralovich raised air quality as an estuary concern. Kralovich is fighting to shut down Freeport's diesel electric plant, which he says releases cancer-causing smoke from its stacks and endangers the environment.
Kralovich asked "whether anyone has addressed the question of air pollution" in the estuary report.
Fullmer said the report centered around water quality; however, he noted that air pollution may add to water contamination.
"Locally, if you had a power plant that was spewing out particulate [soot], there could be some water-quality issues, and it should be something that is looked at," he said.
Fullmer also noted, "There isn't a lot of data out there that documents a correlation between air quality and water quality."
Other goals
Among the many objectives outlined in the estuary council's report were:
