On this episode of Water Matters, documentary filmmaker Alan Honick & Dr. Kristin Perret discuss how prosocial interventions can help communities come to a …

Suffolk County and New York State recognize the pressing need to address significant nitrogen levels in our local waterways and groundwater caused in part by underground septic tanks. On this episode of Water Matters, Marshall Brown talks with Peter Scully, sewer czar of Suffolk County, on the issue of septic tanks on Long Island, the damage they do to our creeks and bay, and what the County is doing over the coming years to replace over 200,000 septics with sewering and on site sewering replacements. It's an enormous task but one which we must take on.

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Emerging contaminants, such as 1,4-dioxane, were a hot topic in 2019 and sure to continue to be well into the future. Learn more about them as well as the toxic effects of methoprene, the mosquito pesticide, on our marshlands in this Save The Great South Bay Speaker Series conversation moderated by Marshall Brown.

Kevin McAllister, founder and president of Defend H2O, speaks about methoprene and our marshlands, while Michael Beckerich, CEO of York Analytical Laboratories, a NYC-based environmental testing lab, discusses emerging contaminants, such as 1,4 dioxane and PFAS/PFOAs -- what it takes to detect them and what dangers they pose. Rounding out the panel are Dorian Dale, Suffolk County Sustainability Director and Frank Piccininni of SMPIL Consulting.

Go native! In this episode of Water Matters, we are joined by Matt Gettinger of Long Island Natives. As one of the most comprehensive native plant producers in New York, LI Natives is dedicated to growing a wide variety of native species representing the local flora of the northeastern United States.

LI Natives specializes in growing trees for use in conservation efforts for parks, municipalities and native gardeners. Most of their plants are ideal for local habitat restoration and revegetation projects. The nursery uses local seed sources wherever possible to produce plants that are genetically adaptable to our local climate.

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If one oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day, how would one billion oysters affect water quality? Listen in as our distinguished panel discusses the economic and environmental potential of returning shellfish to the Bay during our Speaker Series entitled "Shellfish and the Revitalization of the Great South Bay".

Panelists Pete Malinowski of the Billion Oyster Project, Chuck Westfall, President of LI Oyster Growers, Martin Byrnes, Town of Islip Waterways Management,  and Thomas Schultz, President of Friends of Bellport Bay graciously share their experience and answer our audience questions in this hour-long episode. To the Bay!

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Commercial developers and environmentalists may not seem likely bedfellows but surprisingly there is much common ground when it comes to sustainable development. Listen in to our recent conversation with real estate developer Anthony Bartone of Terwilliger & Bartone Properties and Charles Bevington, President of the Sierra Club of Long Island, as part of Stony Brook's WUSB radio environmental marathon.

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Listen to Episode 1 of the podcast featuring Frank Piccininni speaking to the Assembly Minority Conference's Water Quality Task Force about funding and native plantings.

On Saturday, August 4th, the Sayville Creek Defenders, culled mostly from the membership of The Greater Sayville Civic Association, as led by James Bertsch and Christine Sarni, The Sayville Historical Society, The Sayville Garden Club, The Village Improvement Society (VIS), and Save The Great South Bay, were out in force to run a clean up along Greenes Creek in Sayville.

50 took part.

The Sayville Creek Defenders - Courtesy Spelman Studios

Here's a closer look at some of the plucky souls who came out to help.   Photographs courtesy Spelman Studios.

Here is a zoomable map of the creek and the surrounding homes and businesses:

One of the seven precincts was to explore Greene's Creek by kayak, entering from The Great South Bay. We launched just as the storm hit:

As it happened, being caught in a torrential downpour yielded dividends.   It was obvious where a lot of the problems in Greene's Creek are coming from -- runoff from lawns and failing cesspools.

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Getting from Greene's Creek back into the bay and then to our launching area was more than a bit tricky the way the storm stirred up the surf, but we did it! The other six squads, further up the creek, removed a great deal of trash, and like us of course were soaked to the skin, but happy.

We rounded out the day with a long confab at Kingston's Clam Bar and planned our next actions.

All in all, the conclusion we came away with is this -- Greenes Creek will only ever become healthy when the surrounding properties, roads, and outfall pipes are no longer dumping polluted water into it. Failing cesspools not only contribute excess nitrogen, but also fecal coliform bacteria, and lots of it. We can all do our part today when it comes to lawn fertilizer and pesticides. We can petition The Town of Islip and Suffolk County to address the outfall pipe / runoff issue. We can choose to plant "Bay Friendly Yards." At the end of the day, though, we must find a way to economically replace these failed cesspools / septic tanks if the bay is to ever come back.

The Great South Bay’s main issue is water quality.   What’s polluting it? Scientists claim that 69% of the excess nitrogen in the bay is from septic systems, but then there is also runoff to consider -- from lawns and roads, through storm drains and outfall pipes.  

This is no more apparent than when there’s a heavy rain.

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How Heavy Rainfall Affects the Great South Bay

Anyone living on The South Shore these days will tell you that after a heavy rainfall, the bay suffers, and local beaches close.   Between the failing low lying septic tanks and the animal waste, the fecal coliform counts quickly exceed safe levels. Along many of our creeks, the stench is obvious.   Throw in pesticides and fertilizer from our lawns, and grease, oil, and trash from our roadways, and that adds up to quite a toxic stew for the bay.

The nitrogen from the septics, the road runoff (atmospheric deposition) and lawn fertilizer (an outmoded and destructive practice, in our view)  all contribute to our brown tide issue. [pic]

A Lost Legacy?

The first major brown tide hit The Great South Bay in 1985, effectively ending large scale clamming on the bay.   Since then the brown tides have grown longer and more intense, generally, and with each year the prospect of saving this bay dims.  The amount of pollution running into the bay from surface water and groundwater day by day, and after a good rain, contributes to the bay’s ongoing deterioration.   For those who fish or sail, for our oyster farmers, for all those who remember what was, this are difficult times.

Beach Closures This Year in the Great South Bay

We’ve seen shellfish beds and beaches across Long Island closed regularly because of poor water quality, especially after a heavy rain.   

On August 8th, The Suffolk County Department of Health and Services issued an advisory against swimming in 35 beaches on the Great South Bay including Venetian Shores Beach, West Islip Beach, Islip Beach, East Islip Beach, West Oaks Recreation Club Beach, Brightwaters Village Beach, and Bayberry Beach & Tennis Club.

On July 26th an advisory against swimming was issued in 73 beaches across Long Island after excessive rainfall. 

On July 18th, the Suffolk County Government Health Officials issued an advisory bathing warning for 63 beaches, including some on the Great South Bay.  

In each case, people were warned about the dangers of touching this bateria laden water, that it would take two tidal cycles to flush out.     

Improving Water Quality in The Great South Bay

Other than replacing our cesspools and septic tanks via sewering or modern onsite systems -- an enormous and necessary project -- there are things we can do as people and as communities to improve the bay’s water quality.  Save The Great South Bay, through its Creek Defender Program [link] champions the restoration of native habitat along the 42 creeks that feed the bay. Filter the water with trees, bushes, shrubs and grasses, and the water entering the creeks is that much healthier.    The bay is a symptom. It’s the mainland that’s sick.   Our solution?   Go native!

Save The Great South Bay also promotes ‘Bay Friendly Yards.’  What if you could restore habitat and filter the groundwater via native plantings right at home?   What if your yard didn’t need any fertilizer, pesticides, or extra water because you were planting what should be there in the first place?    If we planted on our properties what belongs there, our local environment -- and the bay -- benefits.

Finally, Save The Great South Bay is a major advocate for the expansion of shellfishing industry.    In 1976, the clams in The Great South Bay filtered 40% of the bay water every day. We need to now expand our oyster farming, in part to cure the bay.   An oyster filters many times more water per day than a clam. In addition, an oyster commands many times more wholesale. In other words, healthy waters lead to profit, which leads to healthier waters, etc.  Whatever we do on the mainland to mitigate pollution from stormwater runoff will pay dividends for the bay and The South Shore.

While Blue Island Oysters has its hatchery in West Sayville, its oyster farm is off Captree.   And last Friday was my day to visit.

Captree

In 2000, Chris Quartuccio acquired a former bait shack and the lease for a surrounding six acres, and Blue Island Oysters was born. Chris chose the location for its proximity to The Fire Island Inlet, where the water would be cleanest.

Blue Island Oysters

Here we are arriving to dock.

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Here we were greeted most effusively by Bowsun, The Hungarian Vizsla.

Bowsun The Hungarian Vizsla

Bowsun would be taking the tour with us.

Blue Island Oysters offers regular tours of its farm for parties of fourteen, public and private. It is at once a communing with nature, an educational seminar, and a feast of oysters. One is encouraged to bring one's own champagne, craft beer, or wine.

I preferred to wash mine down with Drink The Bay Clean. I'd say an American Pale Ale was a good choice here!  But that came later.;   First was a presentation about the farm itself.   Chris showed us how these tiny baby oysters, fed on a variety of algae, grow to dime size, where they can be placed in oyster bags in the bay.   The oysters are then periodically checked for growth, and tumbled so that they grow thick and meaty rather than thin and long.

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A fascinating process, and clearly A LOT of work!

Next up was a kayak tour of the salt marshes. Just stunningly beautiful. About half of the 14 were coming out from Brooklyn. How wonderful it must have been for them in particular to experience this!

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From there we bid a fond farewell to the farm and Bowsun. It was a magical day! Thank you Blue Island for having me as your guest!