Sewage pipe project to aid Nassau's western bays

Fouled for years by sewage and urban runoff, the western bays along Nassau's South Shore got some good news this week that could help restore environmental balance to this sensitive complex of marsh islands and shallow bays.

Work will begin next month on a $1.94-million project to connect the sewage treatment plant at Jones Beach State Park - which now discharges into Sloop Channel - to an outfall pipe that carries effluent to the Atlantic from Nassau's Cedar Creek plant. Officials are expected to make the announcement Thursday.

Also this week, money for a Stony Brook University study to identify pollution sources and contaminant levels in the western bays was finally released after being held up for months during Albany budget negotiations. Those findings will help state environmental officials set limits on nutrient pollution in the bays - a goal the state first announced in late 2007.

Both developments were hailed as milestones by citizens and environmental advocates who have worked for years to draw attention to pollution problems there.

"It's a new beginning for efforts to restore the western bays," said Adrienne Esposito of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "This is a critical study to help us understand that ecosystem and what's degrading it."

Sewage plants discharge more than 55 million gallons of effluent to the bay complex daily, which some residents and advocates believe has triggered harmful seaweed blooms and may be hurting marine life. Another likely source of pollution: storm water runoff from densely populated residential neighborhoods to the north, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Robert Weltner of Operation SPLASH, a Freeport water quality group, said he had been working for 11 years to get the Jones Beach sewage plant connected to the ocean outfall. "This is going to be extremely beneficial for the bays," he said, adding the change would likely open up clam beds now closed because of poor water quality.

State environmental officials greenlighted the project last year, but the contract between Nassau County and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation was not finalized until last month. Ron Foley, state parks regional director, said the agency bartered state land along the Meadowbrook Parkway, making it available to the county for a 911 call center, in exchange for the right to connect to the Cedar Creek outfall.

The 21/2-mile pipeline will run down the eastern side of Wantagh Parkway, turn east at the traffic circle and run along Ocean Parkway, Foley said. It will connect with the outfall pipe near the Town of Oyster Bay line. Effluent generated by Jones Beach visitors will still be treated at the park's plant, which Foley said handles about 750,000 gallons per day in the peak season.

Advocates and local officials have lobbied for more scientific analysis of the western bays. Despite a DEC pledge in late 2007 to perform a detailed study of water quality problems there, progress has been relatively slow.

The $596,902 Stony Brook University study was authorized months ago, but funds released only this week from the state. Scientists will use the money to analyze how sewage, runoff and other contaminants have affected water, wetlands and marine life in the western bays.

Two other studies, including water quality monitoring by the U.S. Geological Survey, also are under way this summer. DEC spokeswoman Maureen Wren said data from all three studies would ultimately help the agency establish pollution limits for the bays.