Suffolk conference on stormwater runoff
Jeffrey Fullmer, watershed regulatory services coordinator for Fabco Industries in Farmingdale, shows off a storm basin filtration device. (June 21, 2011) Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
An industry is emerging on Long Island around one of the region's most severe problems: stormwater runoff, which causes closings of beaches and shellfishing areas.
A few of the larger industry players will make an appearance Wednesday before the Suffolk County Planning Commission in Hauppauge, which is holding a conference to discuss the pollution problem and what technologies exist to combat it.
"We are the water people when it comes to green technology," said Jeff Fullmer, watershed regulatory services coordinator for Farmingdale-based Fabco Industries Inc., which designs and manufactures filtration systems for businesses and homes.
"There's not a lot" of companies dealing with stormwater runoff yet, Fullmer said. "There should be more."
David Calone, the planning commission's chairman, said the conference is aimed at advising municipalities about stormwater runoff problems and informing developers how they can deal with such problems.
"There are now businesses that are innovating when it comes to products and designs that could protect our waters," Calone said.
So far, the companies are small, with a handful of employees. But they are growing, said Kevin Earley, owner of Nicolock Paving Stones and Retaining Walls, in Lindenhurst. Two years ago the company was involved in one of the largest efforts against stormwater runoff on Long Island. The company made the permeable paving stones in a new lot at the Lindenhurst Memorial Library that lets excess water seep into the ground. The runoff would otherwise end up in the Great South Bay.
Typical of such companies is Greener Country of Bohemia, run by Robert Meinke, a former insurance executive, and his wife, Marie Brandis. The company sells such items as 55-gallon rain barrels to collect water from roofs.
"I wanted to do something different, and my wife and I went to a green festival in Chicago," Meinke said. "I found out all about these different products. We cleared over six figures in sales" last year. Greener Country is now listed on Amazon.com.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
