Orient water work goes down the drain
Water authority project awash in opposition
4 comments below
Faced with mounting opposition, the Suffolk County Water Authority's plan to run public water mains out to Orient using federal stimulus package funds appears to be "in limbo," Southold Supervisor Scott Russell said this week.
Following a weekend meeting at which Orient residents essentially said, "Thanks, but no thanks," the supervisor reported that the state, which funnels the federal dollars to local projects, is now less inclined to keep Southold on its project list.
The controversial project hit another roadblock this week when the supervisor said Orient is not designated on the town's official water service map as an appropriate area for new public service.
Mr. Russell called the Orient project "a foolish way to spend stimulus money."
The $3.8-million Orient expansion was designed to pipe water from East Marion, across the causeway to the Browns Hills community. The 24 homes there are served by a small public system, but with the well water carrying high nitrate levels, the water authority maintains individual treatment systems in each home. The water main installation option became financially feasible in August, when the SCWA was awarded federal stimulus funding that would cover half the cost.
Several Orient homeowners met with Suffolk County Water Authority representatives on Saturday to discuss the project. With approximately 10 Browns Hills property owners gathered in her living room, Venetia Hands praised the way the authority has run the community's well-water system since 1998, when it bought the system from the residents for a dollar.
Promotional material for the project distributed by the two men promises that it would "bring safe drinking water" to Browns Hills, where nitrate levels in the well water exceed the state's safe drinking water standard of 10 parts per million. Several residents noted that the filters reduce the nitrate content at the tap to just two parts per million, which Mr. Kuzman acknowledged would be probably be a lower level than the water that would be transported through the main.
"I have never heard of any complaints about the reverse-osmosis filters," said William Ryall, to which Mr. Kuzman responded, "We've been happy with them, too."
Ms. Hands and several other residents who attended oppose construction of the water main until the Town of Southold has taken steps to protect East Marion and the Orient peninsula from the overdevelopment they fear the project would facilitate.
The authority maintains that it doesn't control development, and that the town controls land use. It defended the Orient project not only as a way to improve drinking water safety but also as a means to reduce its maintenance costs at Browns Hills, where the authority must gain access to houses four times a year to ensure the reliability of the under-the-sink filters.
Because serving the community's residents with a main would cost less, their water bills could have dropped on average from just under $500 annually to around $335.
Although SCWA regulations stipulate that at least 40 percent of residents in a community must commit to a proposed extension of service, the authority says that didn't apply to Browns Hills homeowners because they're already customers.
"Whether we wanted to hook the 'package system,' back into our East Marion system is strictly our call," the authority's CEO, Stephen Jones, said in a phone interview last week.
As for serving additional homes in Orient, Mr. Jones said by e-mail that "we will proceed to install an additional main if at least 40 percent of the people agree to take service." According to the authority, about 700 homes in this category are potential customers.
The SCWA received an administrative permit from the Town Trustees for the main to Browns Hills in June, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued permits for the project in September to both the authority and the town. Permits are required because the SCWA would have to install the main under Dam Pond Channel in East Marion.
Issuance of permits came as a surprise to Town Board members. Councilman Al Krupski said he didn't learn of the approvals until someone mentioned it at a meeting on the town's comprehensive plan last Thursday. Asked about the DEC permit received by the town, Mr. Russell said he was unaware of it until a reporter informed him Monday. Later that day, after investigating, Mr. Russell said, "As far as we can tell, the permit was issued to the town in error."
A DEC spokeswoman said, however, that the permit wasn't issued by mistake. Even though the project would have been built on a state-controlled right of way, said the spokeswoman, Aphrodite Montalvo, "the property is still technically owned by the town, so the permit will go to the town. The authority acts as the town's agent."
Efforts to obtain comment from the SCWA by presstime were unsuccessful.
tkelly@timesreview.com
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4 comments found
Orienters Deserve to Make Their Own Decisions : 10/23/2009
What is really hard to believe is that the so called Suffolk County Water Authority and our Suffolk County Department of Health Services Division of Environmental Quality fail to recognize any of the many benefits of continued reliance on private wells versus changing to dependence on public water. Also unbelievable is the mysterious failure of both SCWA and SCDHS DEQ to understand that many of the alleged benefits of public water supplies are illusory.
Orient deserves public water : 10/23/2009
As an Orient resident for 32 years, I support the extension of a potable and reliable water service to our area. The benefits of public water versus continued reliance on private wells are many. Public water must meet rigorous federal, state, and county quality standards and is routinely tested for purity, whereas private wells are only required to be tested once - for approval of new construction. Public supply wells are generally deeper and less prone to contamination than private wells. In power outages, public water continues to be served to residences, whereas private wells will not operate and homes are left without water for drinking and sanitary purposes. Public water hydrants protect life and property by providing greater fire protection as a continuing available water source for fire fighting activities and reduces fire insurance costs for homeowners. There are numerous private wells in Orient impacted by nitrate from fertilizers, pesticides including alachlor, aldicarb, dacthal, metolachlor, and the gasoline additive MTBE that would benefit from the availability of a clean public water supply. Controversy arises because some say that the availability of public water will spur additional development, but development is controlled by town zoning regulations. Most undeveloped land in Orient is zoned from two to five acre minimum lot size and the availability of public water does nothing to alter that zoning. It is nearly inconceivable that some would deny an uncontaminated water supply to residents because you're afraid of overdevelopment? Your planning and zoning regulations are designed for that purpose. It's hard to believe that we are even having this conversation in 2009.
Amen : 10/22/2009
Just want to support the prior comment. And add a warning. Comprehensive plans should be comprehensive. They are not unless the public participates.
Browns Hills Water Supply : 10/22/2009
The Water Authority does not dictate local zoning, but the availability of public water has long been a successful leverage point in the promotion of additional land development. As a result, Orient residents are right to be extremely concerned about the potential unintended consequences of a Browns Hills water line expansion. Clearly, Southold Town's forthcoming comprehensive plan presents an excellent opportunity to develop a much-needed water conservation and management strategy for Orient. This strategy would establish and legally support, zoning guidelines that are based on a host of community values and resource conservation requirements instead of the simple presence or absence of a particular level of infrastructure.
