Funds to help reduce water pollution

A $300,000 state appropriation will fund environmental research on pollution in the Western Bays, Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) said.

The cash will boost efforts to reduce water pollution in the Western Bays that have suffered from degraded water quality due to sewage treatment plants and a power plant that together discharge 64.5 million gallons of waste water a day into the bays, Weisenberg said.

He added that the Western Bays, a group of salt marshes on the South Shore, have tested positive for pathogens and have been included in the New York State list of impaired waters.

Weisenberg said he and Assemb. Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst) obtained the funds from the state’s Environmental Protection Fund.

“We want to know where it’s coming from so we can have it treated and prevented,” Weisenberg said in a statement this month. “This is a priority for us on the South Shore of Long Island.”

The area serves as a habitat for birds and other marine life, and local residents use the waters.