By Jeff Lipton
From 1995 to 1999, the Cedarhurst plant was ranked 11th on a list of the worst polluters among municipal sewage-treatment plants, based on the number of violations in the five-year period, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council's Coastal Protection Report Card. The plant was cited for 44 violations, or levels of pollutants that exceeded state limits.
The Cedarhurst plant and the Patchogue Wastewater Treatment Plant in Suffolk County exceeded the discharge limits for total suspended solids (TSS) by an average of 70 percent, the highest discrepancy noted by the NRDC.
Total suspended solids comprise fine particles that remain suspended in water without dissolving or settling to the bottom and can include silt, decaying plant and animal matter, industrial wastes and sewage. They can increase turbidity, a cloudy film that blocks sunlight from reaching aquatic plants below the surface.
As the amount of light passing through the water is reduced, photosynthesis slows, resulting in lower levels of dissolved oxygen as less oxygen is released into the water by plants. This in turn can reduce the population and diversity of fish and other aquatic life. Radically reduced levels of oxygen can kill fish.
Limits are put into place to be protective of health and the environment, said Bill Fonda, a spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Fonda said DEC records show that in general, the [Cedarhurst] plant is running well. It's doing some upgrades and should have better compliance records this year and next year.
This year the DEC cited the plant for five excursions, or discharges of pollutants that exceed state limits. Two of the excursions included fecal coliform, associated with disease-causing organisms, and the DEC sent a letter to the plant requesting an explanation, Fonda said. Plant operators responded that they have added two more workers to help out and that new screens have been added.
Cedarhurst village officials said they have been attempting to correct the problems at the plant. We're refurbishing the whole plant, said Mayor Andrew Parise. The whole plant has been falling apart.
He said work on the plant was launched earlier this month. The village floated a $1.5 million bond more than a year ago, and was given the go-ahead to start the necessary overhaul.
Parise explained that a permit allows the village to treat about one million gallons of raw sewage a day. The plant is in desperate need of an overhaul because it was built in 1938 and has undergone no major renovations since then, Parise said. He estimated that the village may need a total of $5 million to finish the job.
Hopefully, we can get some grant money, but if not it will have to come from the taxpayers, he said, adding that another bond could be floated, which could be paid out over 20 years at an interest rate of 1 to 2 percent.
Parise said the Cedarhurst plant's equipment is breaking down, including one motor designed to remove the sludge. We're going to replace motors, replace equipment, he said. We're going to try to maintain the side walls as much as we can. We're not going to take a band-aid approach. We're going to look the whole thing over. It's a major, major project.
Morris Kramer, an environmentalist who lives in Atlantic Beach, said he has been concerned about the impact of the plant on the local environment. It is scary, he said.
The purpose of the NRDC report was to make municipalities aware of their contributions to the pollution of the ecosystem and to help them take ownership of this region, principal report author Carolyn Summers said. It's especially useful, she said, because the ecosystem isn't limited to county, town, city or village boundaries.
The NRDC is a non-profit environmental group that works to protect natural resources and improve the environment. Its report was based on Environmental Protection Agency permit-compliance data, as well as data from the New York and New Jersey departments of environmental conservation.
