Siena poll: Long Islanders know overfertilizing's a risk but few change lawn care habits
A Siena University survey found that wealthy Long Islanders are most likely to fertilize their lawns and homeowners overall are aware overfertilizing can be a health hazard, but few have changed their lawn care habits. Credit: NY DEC
Wealthy Long Islanders are most likely to fertilize their lawns, and homeowners overall are aware using too much can seep harmful chemicals into the drinking water supply and lead to fish-killing algal blooms, according to a recent survey by Siena University. But few homeowners on the Island have changed their own fertilizing habits.
"The key takeaway," Travis Brodbeck, one of the designers of the study, wrote in an email to Newsday, is that there’s "a significant gap between residents' environmental concern and their actual behavior ... when it comes to maintaining their lawns."
"People overwhelmingly value beautiful lawns and want to protect the environment," Brodbeck added, "but a majority are not taking enough of the specific steps necessary to reduce pollution from fertilizer runoff."
The poll, conducted by the Siena Research Institute, queried 1,000 Nassau and Suffolk county homeowners last July. It was commissioned by the Long Island Regional Planning Council and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- A Siena University poll found that the wealthiest Long Islanders are most likely to fertilize their lawns and most Long Island homeowners are aware that too much fertilizing can cause problems in waterways.
- The poll found a mismatch between awareness and action: Not as many people are following tips to reduce their own use.
- Some Long Island homeowners are taking action — for example, by swapping standard lawn grass for low-maintenance alternatives.
Toxic algal blooms
Excess nutrients in Long Island’s bays and estuaries cause algal blooms — some of which are toxic to humans and pets — and those blooms in turn can cause low-oxygen dead zones and die-offs of fish and shellfish. Overfertilizing lawns and golf courses is one significant source of excess nitrogen and other nutrients in New York’s waterways, according to the DEC, along with older septic tanks and discharges from sewage treatment plants.
Excess nutrients also can contaminate groundwater. Suffolk is among the top 5% of counties nationwide for nitrate levels in groundwater and drinking water, according to the New York Sea Grant. Nitrates in drinking water are linked to neural tube defects, colorectal cancer and thyroid disease, as well as "blue baby syndrome" — because the compound interferes with red blood cells' ability to hold oxygen, according to multiple scientific studies.
The poll found that 3 in 4 respondents were very or somewhat concerned about pollution from too much fertilizing, and 70% said they agreed that less fertilizer would improve Long Island’s water quality.
Yet most of those polled (65%) said they use fertilizers, and very few take precautions to be sure they aren’t applying too much.
The largest group of those polled (43%) said they fertilize twice a year and 21% fertilize more than twice. Roughly 1 out of 4 (28%) homeowners fertilize once a year.
Affluent homeowners were more likely to fertilize than those with lower incomes: 57% of those with incomes of less than $100,000 fertilized, and 70% of those who take in $100,000 or more did so. The higher-income group also was more likely to fertilize more than twice a year.
Taking steps
A small minority of lawnkeepers took steps to reduce misuse: Only about a third stuck to local rules on dates they can apply fertilizers and 19% tested their soil beforehand to see if it was really needed.
There's often a "value-action gap," Brodbeck told Newsday in an interview, "especially when it comes to the environment."
He said a common refrain is: "I value a beautiful, clean environment ... but the actions that I need to take in order to facilitate that are either out of reach or I'm not aware of them."
Some Long Island homeowners are taking action — for example, by swapping standard lawn grass for low- maintenance alternatives.
About 20 years ago, Lynne Woolever, of Malverne, planted zoysia, a soft but hardy grass that is native to Asia and Australia, in the bare spots of her classic Kentucky bluegrass lawn. In short order, the zoysia spread and replaced her patchy, high-needs bluegrass. Her new lawn doesn't require watering or pesticides, and it suppresses weeds, she told Newsday Tuesday. And it doesn't need fertilizer, she added. "We enjoy the fact that we're reducing the use of pollutants to the groundwater," she said.
For those who want to keep their traditional turf, Cornell University's agricultural college promotes a "do less" approach: Skip the spring feed, leave grass clippings on the lawn (they provide nitrogen), test soil before fertilizing and choose a non-water-soluble, slow-release nitrogen fertilizer.
The college notes it’s against state law to apply fertilizer within 20 feet of a waterway.
The good news: Brodbeck said he and his colleagues characterized 87% of those polled as either ready to act or would be ready with more information, so the Siena pollsters recommended a program of public education.
"If everyone benefits from a cleaner Long Island," Brodbeck said, "that would be worth the effort."
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