Can Orient's groundwater be saved?
Orient, East Marion residents ask town to establish a new groundwater protection district
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Spurred by concern about the impact of new residential construction that could follow the expansion of public water service, some Orient and East Marion residents are pushing the town for another level of groundwater protection.
The special groundwater protection district option now under town review would have no impact on the Suffolk County Water Authority's much-contested $3.8 million proposal to run over three miles of new transmission lines from East Marion into Orient. But it would ban the use of pesticides on local yards and prohibit some business uses, such as dry cleaners.
Agricultural operations would be exempt.
Area residents supporting a new overlay district, which would work in concert with rather than replace local zoning, packed recent Town Board code committee meetings. The town assigned Mark Terry, its principal planner, to investigate.
"The devil is always in the details," said Supervisor Scott Russell.
A water protection district could address a broad range of goals, such as preventing stormwater runoff, the supervisor added.
Even so, a new groundwater protection strategy developed for Orient or East Marion could be applicable in other parts of the town, with or without public water service, said the supervisor.
The Group for the East End is developing its own watershed protection plan for the North Fork.
Only a thin strip of land between Orient Harbor and the Sound connects Orient to East Marion and that leaves Orient with its own separate groundwater supply. The residue of agricultural chemicals and saltwater intrusion plague a number of private wells in the area. The water authority has said the new mains may be the only way to bring clean water to those with tainted wells.
The town has taken the position that the authority cannot move on installing the new mains until it first submits a formal request to amend Southold's water service map and completes a full environmental review. A group of Orient residents recently filed a state Supreme Court action seeking to block the project until such a review is undertaken. The authority has said Orient is already within its approved service area.
"We need to improve our understanding of water pollution and hydrogeological connections," said Orient resident Keri Christ. "Land use planning has to take all of this information, including our aquifer, into consideration. Without proper planning and management, Orient and its enormous environmental values will slowly disappear."
tkelly@timesreview.com
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