Why Billions in New Sewers Won’t Work

Everybody is talking about water quality lately and that is a good thing. Following Super Storm Sandy, Governor Cuomo established the LI Resiliency and Clean Water Infrastructure Task Force, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation released a follow-up report entitled Coastal Resiliency and Water Quality in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and the Suffolk County Executive has made water quality a top priority of his administration. Together, the State and County have committed hundreds of millions (and potentially, billions) to new sewer infrastructure.

The problem is, billions in new sewer infrastructure alone won’t fix the problem and it could actually make things worse.

Water quality declines are but symptoms of three underlying problems: (1) ineffective Health Department regulations, (2) flawed land use policies and (3) a government decision-making process dominated by special interests. Spending billions on new sewer infrastructure without addressing these issues will only lead to more unsustainable development patterns and increasingly severe environmental impacts.

In simple terms, sewers provide a potential benefit by reducing the amount of excess nutrients and toxins entering ground and surface waters. However, that benefit is lost when sewers are also tied to dramatic increases in development densities. Even with ‘state of the art’ sewage treatment, increasingly common development densities of thirty, forty, fifty and even 100 units per acre harm ground and surface waters.

One thing is certain. We need to improve water quality or risk losing our quality of life. Nitrogen, a leading contaminant of both ground and surface water, has increased 200% in our aquifers. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) have doubled in concentration and quadrupled in frequency and officials have now detected 117 pesticide-related compounds in our drinking water. Our once renowned clam, scallop and lobster populations have all collapsed, the list of waters designated as “impaired” by NYS grows each year and bacteria-related beach closures are now common events. Harmful algal blooms, undetected prior to 1984, now impact virtually all of our bays and harbors.

Moving forward, we need to:

(1) Adopt a New Water Resources Management Plan. The County recently released an update to its 1987 plan. However, the County has also indicated that it doesn’t intend to adopt the plan or analyze the impact of the plan under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). That is wrong on both counts.

(2) Strengthen County Health Department Regulations. Suffolk County has the least restrictive unsewered sanitary standards in the country and it is also one of the densest, most populated counties in the country. In fact, Suffolk County is larger in population than 11 states. The result is thousands of acres of closed shellfish beds and an alarming array of excess nutrients and toxins in both our ground and surface waters. The time for talk of incremental change is past. We need new, scientifically supported standards that can stop the onslaught and lead to improved water quality.

(3) Reform Government Decision-Making. For too long, County health policy has been driven by special interests needs instead of the desire to protect public health and the environment upon which we all depend. The County Executive has made water quality a top priority of his administration but he has also stated that economic development should be a core mission of the Health Department. Current and previous administrations have also raided the Drinking Water Protection Fund to balance the budget and cut critically needed staffing within the Department of Health. This has resulted in reduced inspections, monitoring, testing and enforcement actions. Most disturbingly, the County’s support for increasingly unsustainable development densities will only lead to even greater declines.

To be clear, new sewers can provide a benefit but they can also lead to even greater impacts if they are not tied to changes in our land use practices and regulatory standards. They are clearly no solution to a lack of good planning, ineffective regulatory standards and special interest driven decision-making.

Clean water isn’t something to be negotiated away with powerful special interests. It is our right and it needs to come first.

Dan Gulizio is the Executive Director of Peconic Baykeeper (PBK). PBK is a Not-For-Profit water advocacy organization committed to swimmable, fishable and drinkable water. Dan was previously the Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development for the Town of Islip, the Commissioner of the Department of Planning, Environment and Land Management for the Town of Brookhaven, the Deputy Director of Planning for Nassau County and the Deputy Director of Planning for Suffolk County. Dan is a graduate of Colby College, has a M.S. degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Columbia University and a J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law. Dan has been a resident of the Town of Huntington for over 20 years.