Better rules on dumping can help save LI’s precious water

Writing new regulations never is easy. So state officials are to be congratulated for the overhaul of New York’s solid-waste regulations announced this week. They are an improvement over current rules issued 23 years ago.

However, the goal is not merely to make the regulations better, but to make them the best they can be. The 120-day comment period now underway is critical. The Department of Environmental Conservation says it wants input. It surely will get that. And it must listen carefully and respond. The draft it released Monday can and must be improved.

Solid-waste regulations protect our environment and our health. They cover such things as landfills, mulch facilities, and the transport of waste and construction debris. The issues are especially important on Long Island, where contaminants can leach into the aquifer that is the region’s only source of water. That makes Long Island unique in the state, a status requiring some consideration in the regulations.

We also worry that regulations to track the disposal of waste seem to fall short of a rigorous manifest system that would prevent the kind of illegal dumping that contaminated four sites in Islip Town. Another concern is that the DEC lacks the staffing to do the intensive monitoring and enforcement needed to make the new rules work. The agency must be given the resources it needs to fulfill this mission.

Long Island is beset by environmental problems. One of the Islip dumping trials is ongoing. Cadmium, a carcinogen, was found in creek sediment near a West Islip Superfund site in the midst of a decades-long cleanup. The state needs to get the regulations right. It’s taken the first step, but there is a lot of hard work ahead. — The editorial board