Issue no. 2 - 25 October 2024

In our mid-month letter, Science Explained with CCOM's Manger of Environmental Advocacy Rebecca Holloway, we discuss the important opportunity this fall to VOTE YES for clean water on proposition 2 and why we believe it’s important to consider upgrading your septic system, which has the benefit of municipal reimbursement.

VOTE YES for Clean Water. VOTE YES for Ballot Proposition 2.

Proposition 2 means…

• Improving local water systems and the health of the water we drink, swim, fish, and recreate in.
• Restoring the marine environments local animals and plants call home and need to survive and thrive.
• Increasing our property values, revitalizing our business districts, and creating thousands of clean water jobs.
• Gaining county-provided tax-free grants for homeowners to replace old polluting septic systems with modern premium clean water technology.

How will this happen? Prop 2 would create a fund to restore clean water by connecting homes and businesses to sewers and financing clean water septic system replacements. The fund would be financed by ⅛ of a cent addition to the county sales tax. This would add approximately 12 cents per $100 purchase, less than $1 per week for most families.

We urge you to VOTE YES on Prop 2 on or before November 5. Explore the option of voting early here. You have until October 26 to register to vote in the 2024 general election.

CALL TO ACTION! How You Can Help to Reach Our WIN FOR CLEAN WATER

Either take our 1 minute survey, or share your story and add your voice to our prompt:

What is Prop 2 to You?

Read on to learn the facts behind the issue of outdated septics and its link to Suffolk County water pollution.

Septic Sadness in Our Town

Outdated Long Island waste management systems threaten our community and ecosystem’s health. But YOU can do something about it:

A majority of East End septic systems are severely outdated and at risk of failing, or completely obsolete in the worst cases. Many homeowners don’t know the significance of the wastewater treatment system below their home.

An aging or failing septic discharges untreated wastewater, which contains dangerous pathogens including E. coli, Salmonella, and Giardia, excess nutrients like nitrogen that fuel harmful algal blooms (HABs), and other harmful substances directly into the groundwater or onto the ground and into surface waters.

Groundwater is the water found below ground, stored in the spaces between soil, sand, and rocks. Groundwater is important because it feeds our rivers, ponds, lakes and streams, keeping them full and flowing.

Imagine water flowing underground like a slow-moving river. If that water becomes contaminated, it reaches the nearby water bodies we use for drinking, swimming and fishing. So, when septic systems fail, they don't just affect one spot—they pollute our groundwater, degrading the safety and quality of our environment at large.

One major cause of nitrogen pollution on the East End is our outdated residential and commercial septic systems. Old, leaking septic systems can cause the “overgrowth of certain species of algae [HABs], which can lead to oxygen depletion when they die, sink to the bottom and decompose” (NOAA.gov). Effects of this include the production of "dead zones" where aquatic life cannot survive due to lack of oxygen.

HABs and Nitrogen Pollution 

HABs are an explosion of growth of blue-green algae (tiny, simple marine plants technically known as cyanobacteria) that discolor the water and may produce toxins (specifically, harmful substances known as cyanotoxins). 

Algal blooms in Fort Pond, October 21st, 2024:

Credit: Rebecca Holloway

September 2024 Fort Pond HABs under the microscope:

Credit: Gobler Lab at Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

Stay tuned for an upcoming Science Explained that will dive into your questions on HABs. Have a question now?

Community Awareness

Septic systems can either be outdated and leaching pollution into the ground and making its way into our water bodies, or failed completely, in which human waste is continuously going directly into our environment.

This is an issue where our Community Needs to be Aware and Involved and where doing our part to upgrade each of our home septic systems cannot be overlooked.

Watch this Nature Conservancy video, “Where does it go when I flush?,” that breaks down this issue and how we can solve it.

Upgrading your septic not only saves the health of the water we drink, and the environments that make our home great, but it will save you money in the long run. Why not avoid future costly repairs and the high cost of buying bottled water. Access to healthy local tap water is your right. It’s like investing in good car insurance before hitting the road – smart move, right? With the new grants available by VOTING YES to BALLOT PROP 2, unprecedented County funds will be here to help homeowners finance the switch.

CCOM has maintained our commitment to this issue for almost a decade, and continues to provide resources to businesses and homeowners for options to upgrade your septic system. In partnership with the Town of East Hampton through the initiative Clean Water East Hampton, CCOM has provided services, including assistance with applying to the funding available for you to upgrade your sanitary system. Click here for more information from the Town of East Hampton. Call us at (631) 238-5720 or drop by our office at 6 S Elmwood Ave to learn more!

Thanks for exploring with us,

R Holloway