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NY Plans to Cut Pollution in Great South Bay

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Posted: Monday, 11 January 2010 12:12PM

 

NY Plans to Cut Pollution in Great South Bay

 

 

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP/ 1010 WINS) -- Following the second deadly brown tide in two years, New York conservation officials are planning to list Long Island's Great South Bay among the state's "impaired waters,'' a move that requires devising a strategy to cut pollution.

The Department of Environmental Conservation put 787 troubled waterways on the list in 2008. The bay between Long Island and Fire Island is the site of a Nature Conservancy project to restore its clam beds, which once produced nearly half the clams eaten in the U.S.

Gov. David Paterson and Sen. Charles Schumer had previously asked the U.S. Commerce Department to designate a commercial fisheries disaster that would make the bay eligible for federal aid. They made the request -- which is still pending -- in 2008, though its commercial harvest was depleted years earlier.

TM & Copyright 2010 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO & EYE Logo TM & Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. TheAssociated Press contributed to this report.

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Cut another inlet.

 

Peace

Frank II --- If anyone needs me, I'll be in my MAN CAVE, rotating the laundry. - C.C.A. - American Littoral Society Tagger w/ 61 returns - Vietnam Veteran U. S. Army,  Grand Pa of 6

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View PostWho and What are polluting the GSB??

 

 

 

You, me and all the residents on Long Island.

Does your town discharge overflow sewerage? Do you walk your dog in the street? Does your vehicle drip fluids on the road? Do you fertilize your lawn? Do the farmers use fertilizer and pesticides?

Little by little it all adds up. cwm31.gif

 

Long Island had a population of 7448618 as of the 2000 census.

LIBBA 521 - MSA 521 - ASC Go Atlantic!
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View PostGovt should just close Omega... LOL.. Bring back the BUNKER to GSB! LMAO

 

That's the first thing that should be done. 1 adult Menhaden can filter 4 to 7 gallons of water per minute. Think about schools of thousands doing that all day, that's a lot of clean water.

LIBBA #1534
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The first thing to be done with any monies would be some intense and frequent water testing.

 

Of course this brings up the saying:

 

"If you can't handle the answer, don't ask the question."

 

The testing may be able to pinpoint certain water discharges or other specific pollutants, perhaps heavy fertilizers.

 

Towns might get fined, further eating into dwindling budgets.

Enviros might try to enact laws to prohibit chemical treatments of lawns.

There may be restrictions on further water front development.

There may be a need to build plant barriers between developments and the water, potentially blocking views.

There may be a need to eliminate bulkheads, or types of bulkheads.

 

Honestly, I don't think the taxpayers of Long Island, patricularly those living on or near the water, are ready to handle the potential consequences.

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View PostThe first thing to be done with any monies would be some intense and frequent water testing.

 

Of course this brings up the saying:

 

"If you can't handle the answer, don't ask the question."

 

The testing may be able to pinpoint certain water discharges or other specific pollutants, perhaps heavy fertilizers.

 

Towns might get fined, further eating into dwindling budgets.

Enviros might try to enact laws to prohibit chemical treatments of lawns.

There may be restrictions on further water front development.

There may be a need to build plant barriers between developments and the water, potentially blocking views.

There may be a need to eliminate bulkheads, or types of bulkheads.

 

Honestly, I don't think the taxpayers of Long Island, patricularly those living on or near the water, are ready to handle the potential consequences.

 

 

Well said - the big issues are all the homes / golf courses right on the h20 that use all sorts of chemicals to keep the grass green, etc.

 

Until LI goes with sewers and more / updated / better sewage treatment plants the water quality will suffer.

 

Love the bunker idea as well but if you ban Omega they will just hang out in international waters and play chicken with the coasties when their planes spot big bunker schools closer to shore

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Honestly, I don't think the taxpayers of Long Island, patricularly those living on or near the water, are ready to handle the potential consequences.

 

You hit the nail on the head! Additionally: "what you see is not what you get". Chlorinating so the coliform counts go down, doesn't mean the bay is clean, it means the bay is being poisoned by chlorine.

 

"..You can put all the seed clams you want in the bay, if you kill their food they're not gonna live." -John D. (Davis Park Speedo Clammer).

 

Until LI goes with sewers and more / updated / better sewage treatment plants the water quality will suffer

 

Thirty or more years ago we knew the problem with sewage traetment plants: 1. To do it right is cost prohibitive, none of the plants are terciary.

2. The effluent is so chlorinated that it changes the chemistry of the bay'

3. With all that fresh water not being recharged into the water table, and eventually making its way to the bay; you change the salinity and therefore change the hierarchy of species the bay can maintain. As long as people keep multiplying and wanting to live here, it will never be like it used to be.

Sorry guys; shoulda been here 40 years ago.

Pete

"Ban Pre-shredded Cheese, Make America Grate Again"

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a nice big breach would be nice. It think it would help Big Time. I don't know if that's the right answer but I've often thought about it. Maybe somewhere between the F.I. and J.I. or F.I. and Moriches. or both breach then build another inlet. not a cure all by any means but would that drastically help clean up the bay....what say ye confused.gif

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Sewage treatment plants are not part of the problem. None of the large plants discharge into GSB. They're all (SWSD, Cedar creek, Bay Park) discharging offshore.

Chlorinated effluent does not make it back into the bay, and the whole issue of chlorination will become moot as plants are being required to change over to ultraviolet disinfection.

IMO, the issue comes down to nitrogen/nutrient pollution from cesspool overflow and fertilizers.

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None of the large plants discharge into GSB. They're all (SWSD, Cedar creek, Bay Park) discharging offshore.

 

J, maybe you could shed some light on this since you seem to know what is now going on. Is ultraviolet now being used instead of chlorination and at what plants? Will the smaller village and town plants be required to use the UV. One of the problems years ago was that during high volume, gates were opened and sewage either partially or untreated was discharged and shortcutted to the bay.

 

Has the recharge of the water table ever been addressed since water is being pumped offshore.

 

I would agree that nitrogen spikes that cause blooms of brown tide algae and nanochlorous algae that kill shellfish is probably caused by street runoff and not sewage treatment plants.

 

From a real life observation, I remember clams caught off the flats of Fire Island bursting with meat and so full of green algae that they were tinged green. I haven't heard of green clams in 35 years.

 

Pete

"Ban Pre-shredded Cheese, Make America Grate Again"

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