Program Updates: July 7, 2022
Suffolk County is awarded and additional $20.08 million of New York State Septic System Replacement Program funds. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said, "As an island, our water is our most precious resources and we must do everything we can to protect it. I want to thank Governor Hochul for her continued commitment to investing in critical water infrastructure. The state's efforts, combined with our efforts on the County level, will ensure safe, healthy water for generations to come." The additional funds will be coupled with an additional $4.5 million in County funds to further support implementation of the wastewater upgrades recommended in the SWP.
Program Updates: November 1, 2021
The Suffolk County Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan project was awarded the American County of Engineer Companies of New York (ACEC of NY) 2022 Engineering Excellence Gold Award. Each year, over 50 applicants submit projects that are judged on a rigorous set of criteria, which includes complexity, innovation and value to society. Awards are provided to projects with superior skill and ingenuity.
Program Updates: July 9, 2021
Due to overwhelming program demand, the Suffolk County Legislature voted to allocate an additional $8 million in grant funding to the Septic Improvement Program (SIP), which resulted in a total additional allocation of $10 million in 2021 when combined with the previously authorized annual allocation of $2 million per year. New York State also recognized Suffolk County as a continued leader in septic system upgrades through awarding Suffolk County with an additional $10.025 million of New York State Septic System Replacement Program funds in 2021. Implementation of the SIP facilitates wastewater upgrades in accordance with the SWP.
Program Updates: July 1, 2021
Beginning July 1, 2021, all new construction and major reconstruction projects proposed in Suffolk County must install an Innovative/Alternative Onsite Wastewater Treatment System or connect to a sewage treatment plant. The new requirement was established through legislative approval of revisions to Article 6 of the Suffolk County Sanitary Code in 2020. The law implements a major recommendation of the SWP which called for I/A OWTS for all new construction during Phase I of the recommended implementation plan.
Program Updates: April 2, 2021
The Suffolk County Department of Health Service Septic Improvement Program wins the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Environmental Excellence Award. The Environmental Excellence Awards are presented each year in recognition of innovative programs and that show an outstanding commitment to environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and economic viability. A committee of representatives from the public and private sectors helped to select this year’s awardees who were recognized for pioneering projects to ensure inclusivity, explore clean energy, and improve water quality.
Program Updates: September 4, 2020
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has approved the Suffolk County Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan (SWP) as a Nine Element (9E) Watershed Plan. The 9E program is designed to encourage municipalities to develop watershed based plans for improving water quality including nine key elements (refer to the NYSDEC website for more details on 9E plans). “The County’s 9E Plan is the first of its kind, as it addresses nitrogen pollution throughout an entire county.” said James M. Tierney, Deputy Commissioner of the NYSDEC. This historic first will open the County’s watersheds up for additional State and Federal funding opportunities to advance water quality improvement initiatives.
The final SWP incorporating minor revisions to the February 2020 revised SWP to satisfy the requirements of the 9E Watershed Plan program was published in July 2020, and is available here.
Program Updates: September 2, 2020
The Suffolk County Board of Health has unanimously approved changes to the county’s Sanitary Code that require the use of nitrogen-reducing wastewater technologies in unsewered areas of the county for all new construction and allow greater flexibility for the use of small sewer plants in downtown business districts. For more details, read the press release.
For more headlines, click here.
Download the Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan
The Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan - A Roadmap to Reclaim Our Water
Turning the tide on nitrogen pollution
Suffolk County is taking an historic step forward in ongoing efforts to better protect both groundwater and surface water through the development of a countywide wastewater upgrade strategy. In a recent press release, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services announced the long-awaited release of the Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan (SWP). The SWP is a rigorous, science-based roadmap for transitioning away from reliance on conventional cesspools and septic systems, which are the primary source of nitrogen pollution that has fouled local bays.
A Reclaim Our Water initiative, the strategy documented in the Suffolk County SWP was developed in partnership with the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan (LINAP) and in collaboration with numerous project partners, stakeholders, and technical experts. The SWP is the product of years of intensive research, documentation, modeling, and evaluation of all of Suffolk County’s water resources and provides a parcel-specific roadmap on how to address the nitrogen crisis through wastewater upgrades and other nitrogen pollution mitigation strategies. The plan seeks to arrest and reverse the existing trend of degrading water quality over a 10 year period.
“Scientists have warned that continued reliance on primitive wastewater disposal systems is a mounting threat to both our environment and our economy. Now, for the first time, there is a long term plan to diminish nitrogen pollution and put Suffolk County on a path to cleaner, healthier water resources.”
"The strength of this plan is the incredibly strong and sound science on which it is based. The County has taken what may be the largest and most comprehensive water quality data set generated by any county in the country and has generated a robust, comprehensive, and forward thinking plan to restore Suffolk County's most vital resource: Its drinking water and surface waters. While I have spent my career documenting the degradation of Long Island's fisheries and aquatic habitats, it is inspiring to finally see a plan designed and implemented that will reverse course on decades of negative trajectories. The citizens of Suffolk County will reap the benefits of this plan for decades to come."
Click here to see what other people are saying about the new plan.
Headlines
Date: March 17, 2020
At today’s general meeting, the Suffolk County Legislature unanimously adopted the SEQRA Statement of Findings for the Subwatershed Wastewater Plan (SWP) Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS). The Statement of Findings found that the implementation of the SWP would have no significant adverse environmental impacts, would significantly improve water quality in Suffolk County, and that the recommended wastewater upgrade alternative presented in the SWP represented the only alternative capable of meeting the programs goals.
Please note that all of the SEQRA documents for the SWP can be found at the CEQ website.
Date: March 4, 2020
After a thorough and rigorous review process, the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FGEIS) for the recommended actions of the Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan (SWP) has been determined to be adequate and complete by the Suffolk County Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Click here for the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA) Notice of Completion.
The FGEIS includes the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) which analyzed the potential environmental impacts from the recommended actions of the SWP. The FGEIS also includes the public comments received on the DGEIS and the Suffolk County response to the public comments.
Please note that all of the SEQRA documents for the SWP can be found at the CEQ website.
Date: October 17, 2019
The public comment period for the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) for the recommendations of the Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan (SWP) has ended. Suffolk County appreciates the interest shown by the public in the Plan, and would like to thank everyone who submitted written comments or participated at the two public meetings.
Suffolk County will proceed with reviewing and responding to the comments formally in a Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FGEIS) and through direct revisions to the Draft SWP. The Suffolk County Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) will review all response to comments for completeness and adequacy.
Please note that all of the SEQRA documents for the SWP can be found at the CEQ website.
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Downloads
Click here to download the July 2020 Final SWP and Appendices
A Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS), Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FGEIS) and Findings Statement for the actions proposed in the SWP have also been prepared, and is available by clicking here.
A brief overview of the problem and the County’s proposed solution, and what you can do are summarized here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Approximately 380,000 wastewater disposal systems in Suffolk County are releasing nitrogen into our groundwater at concentrations 100 times greater than our coastal ecosystems can handle naturally. In addition, the nitrogen concentration of the shallow groundwater that feeds our sensitive surface water resources has been increasing at a rate of approximately 1-2% per year over the past 30+ years. As a result of this nitrogen loading and other contributing factors such as global warming, our surface waters and coastal ecosystems have suffered severe impacts.
30-Year Nitrate Concentration Trends in Groundwater, Utilizing Same Supply Wells
The sources of nitrogen in Suffolk County have been studied and well documented for decades going back to the 1978 208 Study. For most waterbodies, the primary sources of nitrogen include onsite wastewater disposal systems, atmospheric deposition (e.g., “rain water” and other atmospheric sources), and fertilizer. In the past 10 years, five studies ([Gobler et al., 2016], [Vaudrey et al., 2016], [Lloyd, 2014], [Kinney & Valiela, 2011], and [Lloyd, et al., 2016]) have evaluated nitrogen sources at various geographic locations throughout the county using watershed models. The SWP findings corroborated these studies and it is estimated that approximately 64 percent of nitrogen that reaches our groundwater system comes from untreated wastewater, that is, water that we flush everyday into our cesspools or septic systems.
Sources of Nitrogen Loads to Groundwater
The SWP model also corroborated the findings of previous studies and found that on-site wastewater is the number one contributor of nitrogen to most subwatersheds throughout Suffolk County. As an example, a comparison of nitrogen sources to Great South Bay from a previous study and the SWP (for the eastern bay) is provided below.
Estimated Nitrogen Sources to Great South Bay (Kinney and Valiela, 2011)
Estimated Nitrogen Sources to Unsewered Sections of Great South Bay (eastern) from the SWP
Seventy-four percent of Suffolk County residents and businesses use cesspools or conventional septic systems to dispose of their household and commercial wastewater on-site. Septic systems consist of a septic tank designed to remove solids followed by a leaching pool to release the septic tank effluent into the groundwater system. For many homes and businesses, wastewater is disposed directly into the groundwater system through a leaching pool or cesspool only. The problem is that wastewater contains significantly elevated levels of nitrogen and other contaminants, and conventional septic systems and cesspools are not designed to remove these contaminants.
Conventional Sanitary System
Untreated nitrogen and other contaminants that are released to groundwater eventually reach one of two possible destinations: 1) a surface water body such as a lake, stream, bay, estuary, or the ocean; or 2) a water supply well (such as irrigation well or drinking water supply well). Several existing regional studies have documented the link between nitrogen loads, in water nitrogen concentration, and water quality degradation (e.g., [Hauxwell, Cebrian & Valiela, 2003], [Heisler et al., 2008], [Davis et al., 2009], [Hattenrath et al., 2010], [Latimer & Charpentier, 2010], [Latimer & Rego, 2010], [Gobler & Sunda, 2012], [Harke & Gobler, 2013], [Benson et al., 2013], [Davidson et al., 2014], [Wallace et al., 2014], [Gobler et al., 2016], [Lefcheck et al., 2017], [Luk et al., 2019]). Using the first of its kind county-wide water quality database, the SWP corroborated these findings and found that waterbodies with higher nitrogen concentrations and nitrogen load rates were associated with poorer water quality in Suffolk County (below).
As shown in the comparative analysis above, waterbodies in Suffolk County with higher nitrogen concentrations correspond to a significant increase in the number of harmful algal blooms (HABs), decrease in dissolved oxygen, significant increase in chlorophyll-a, and significant decrease in water clarity. In addition to being aesthetically alarming, increased chlorophyll-a and HABs disrupt the ecosystem by preventing light from reaching the bottom of our estuaries. Similar to terrestrial plants, light is essential for the growth and health of the local aquatic vegetation that provides habitat for finfish and shellfish and which helps to prevent erosion and reduce wave energy during coastal storms. Some HABs can also produce toxins that are harmful to human and pet health resulting in the closure of thousands of acres of shellfish harvest areas and resulting in recurring beach closures. Finally, the HAB commonly referred to as “brown tide” inhibits the growth of young shellfish which, in some locations, is preventing the restoration of hard clam populations following the significant decline of hard clam populations which occurred in the 1970’ and 1980’s.
In the past 10 years alone, Suffolk County has experienced over 230 harmful algal blooms.
Reduction in Hard Clam Landings in Great South Bay
The good news is that if we act now, the increasing nitrogen trend observed in the shallow groundwater that is feeding our bays and estuaries can be reversed in as short as 5-10 years. Through the leadership of County Executive Steve Bellone, Suffolk County has been establishing the foundation for implementation of a countywide wastewater upgrade program. The Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan demonstrates that significant improvements to water quality are possible if Suffolk County embarks on the countywide wastewater upgrade strategy to replace the estimated 380,000 cesspools and conventional septic systems with technologies that remove nitrogen. At the forefront of the strategy is the use of Innovate/Alternative Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems (I/A OWTS), which have been demonstrated through rigorous testing by Suffolk County and other jurisdictions to remove greater than 70 percent of the nitrogen in our wastewater.
Article 19 of the Suffolk County Sanitary Code sets forth rigorous approval requirements for individual I/A OWTS technologies. All I/A OWTS technologies must meet a stringent effluent concentration of 19 mg/l (i.e., approximately 70 percent nitrogen removal) before they can be approved for use in Suffolk County. As of August 2019, the cumulative average effluent concentration of all provisionally approved I/A OWTS in Suffolk County is 17.5 mg/l.
For more information on I/A OWTS, visit the Septic Improvement Program.
Schematic of I/A OWTS
Local sewer expansion, where wastewater is sent to a central sewage treatment plant for treatment and disposal, will also serve a critical role of the overall strategy, particularly in locations that are especially vulnerable to high nitrogen loads such as the Great South Bay.
The recommended strategy set forth by Suffolk County includes a phased approach which will upgrade all conventional on-site wastewater systems within the most sensitive and vulnerable areas of Suffolk County within 30 years of program onset with the establishment of a stable and recurring funding source.
The SWP includes a series of recommendations for consideration that, if implemented, will address the primary source of nitrogen that is contributing to the degradation of Suffolk County waters. It should be noted that the recommendations provided in the SWP are not binding and they are solely presented as strategies for consideration by policymakers. Ultimately, each policy recommendation provided in the Plan will require approval by the Suffolk County Legislature and Suffolk County Board of Health under a separate review and approval process. Finally, the recommended upgrade program provided in the SWP and described below would not be advanced unless a stable, recurring revenue source is established that makes the cost of wastewater upgrades affordable to the homeowners of Suffolk County.
The wastewater upgrades of the entire County recommended in the SWP will be completed in phases. The first phase (Phase I) will be a ramp-up of the program, with the top priority to establish a stable and recurring revenue source. Other priorities will be to: prohibit the use of wastewater disposal systems that don't remove nitrogen; build the industry, and continue to implement voluntary programs. Homeowners can currently apply to participate in the voluntary Septic Improvement Program (SIP).
The highest priority areas to be addressed in Phase II, and the first areas to require upgrades, include the subwatersheds of the most impaired or vulnerable waterbodies. These waterbodies were identified based on many factors, including current and predicted water quality and nitrogen inputs.
The highest priority areas also include the entire 0-2-year groundwater contributing area to surface waters which will result in the most cost-effective approach to remove nitrogen from surface waters. Therefore, within two years of full implementation, it is anticipated that we will begin to reduce trends of increasing degradation in surface waters, and will arrest and reverse the trends within 10 years of full scale implementation with a recurring revenue source.
Wastewater Plan Implementation Phases
Phase I "Program Ramp Up" includes:
- I/A OWTS for New Construction/Addition
- Implement Suffolk County Coastal Resiliency Initiative (SCCRI) sewer connections ($440M existing Federal funding), plus connections within the Southwest Sewer District (SWSD)
- Establishment of revenue source/CWMD
- Continue I/A OWTS voluntary incentives
- Continue industry/RME ramp up
Program Phase
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Program Phase Objectives
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Timeline
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I
Program Ramp Up
9,000 WWT Upgrades
(5,000 retrofit; 4,000 new construction)
|
-Continue voluntary upgrade incentive programs
-I/A OWTS required for all new construction
-Implement SCCRI sewer connections plus connect any unconnected homeowners to SWSD
-Ramp up RME and Industry Capacity
-Establish Countywide Wastewater Management District
-Establish Stable Recurring Revenue Source
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5 Years
(2019-2023)
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II
Upgrades in Near Shore and Highest Priority Areas
207,000 WWT Upgrades
(177,000 retrofit; 30,000 new construction)
|
-Continue Program Ramp Up (RME and Industry Capacity)
-Address all highest priority areas including:
*Upgrades in all near shore 0-2 year contributing areas.
*Upgrades in surface water priority area rank 1.
*Upgrades in groundwater/drinking priority area rank 1.
|
30 Years
(2024-2053)
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III
Upgrades in All Other Priority Areas
299,000 WWT Upgrades
(253,000 retrofit; 46,000 new construction)
|
-Upgrades in all remaining priority areas.
*Remaining parcels in surface water priority area ranks 2,3 and 4.
*Groundwater/drinking water priority area rank 2
|
15 Years
(2054-2068)
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Notes:
WWT upgrades represent cumulative installations of either I/A OWTS, sewering, or clustering
Retrofit = upgrade of existing onsite disposal system
|
Because the cost of connecting to a sewer system or replacing a cesspool or septic system would otherwise create a significant financial burden, a fundamental recommendation included in the SWP is the identification and establishment of an alternative source of funding to make the process affordable for homeowners. Based on a review of practices used successfully in other states, the cost model utilized in the SWP includes four separate scenarios under which sanitary system upgrades could occur:
- Voluntary – If a homeowner within a priority area voluntarily elects to upgrade their system to an innovative and alternative onsite wastewater treatment system (I/A OWTS), the capital cost and first three (3) years operation and maintenance cost associated with the wastewater upgrade would be funded entirely through grants or by a newly established, stable and recurring revenue source.
- System Failure – If a homeowner’s existing system fails and is located within a priority area, the homeowner would be required to upgrade to an I/A OWTS, but the capital cost and first three (3) years operation and maintenance cost associated with the wastewater upgrade would be 100% grant funded by the stable and recurring revenue source.
- Major Renovation – If a homeowner completes a major home renovation that requires replacement of the existing sanitary system, a homeowner would be required to upgrade to an I/A OWTS. Suffolk County is currently evaluating cost models for this alternative, but options include grant funding for a portion of the cost (e.g., funding of the I/A OWTS unit itself, but the homeowner is responsible for the cost of the leaching system [if it is necessary to upgrade]); or funding the full cost of the upgrade, if the system would not have been required to be upgraded under current regulations. The first three (3) years operation and maintenance cost associated with the wastewater upgrade would be grant funded by the stable and recurring revenue source; and,
- Property Transfer – If an existing cesspool or sanitary system has not been upgraded pursuant to Options 1 through 3 above, the upgrade of the sanitary system would be required upon sale of the property. Suffolk County is currently evaluating cost models for this alternative. An example of an existing jurisdiction requiring cesspool upgrades at property transfer is the Rhode Island’s Cesspool Replacement Act.
Example Flow Chart of Wastewater Upgrade Options Proposed in the Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan
Under these scenarios, most homeowners would face minimal out-of-pocket expense for the capital costs associated with the wastewater upgrade and for the first three years of operation and maintenance. The cost of annual operation and maintenance of I/A OWTS would be approximately $250-$300/year thereafter; but the cost is expected to decrease as the market grows. In addition, I/A OWTS carry an electrical cost of approximately $11/month (assuming $0.22/kwh based upon current market conditions).
The primary purpose of the cost model provided in the SWP is to estimate the amount of funding required to make wastewater upgrades affordable for residents of Suffolk County. Importantly, the Plan itself does not enact any upgrade requirement. Each policy recommendation would require approvals from both the Suffolk County Board of Health and Suffolk County Legislature prior to being enacted.
A subwatershed includes the land area that surrounds a waterbody (such as a stream, lake, or embayment), where the discharge of cesspool and septic waste eventually drains into the adjacent waterbody due to transport from the underlying groundwater. A cross section that demonstrates how this occurs is provided below. An example of a mapped (or delineated) subwatershed, and the travel time of groundwater within the subwatershed is also provided below for the Forge River.
A searchable map is under development, which will allow you to see the boundaries of each subwatershed and priority area on a map of Suffolk County. You will be able to search for a property and determine what subwatershed and priority area the property is located within. You will also be able to access the “scorecards”: subwatershed-specific summaries which summarize the information used to characterize each watershed, including the subwatershed area and a summary of the nitrogen sources to surface water and water quality of the surface water compared to other Suffolk County water bodies. An example scorecard for Mt. Sinai Harbor is provided.
Check back on this website for the release of the searchable map.
Note that a given property may be located outside of a specific watershed. However, all properties have prioritized as part of the wastewater upgrade plan.
Nitrogen pollution has taken an enormous toll on the economy, resiliency to storms, and threatens our great way of life in Suffolk County. Some of the benefits anticipated from implementation of a countywide wastewater upgrade program include:
- Protection of the health of you and your family through a reduction in harmful algal blooms, elimination of toxins in shellfish, reduction in direct exposure risk to pathogens, and reduction of toxins in our sole source drinking water aquifer.
- Increase in property values due to higher market demand caused by cleaner recreational waters.
- Increase in economic prosperity through enhanced tourism, creation of new jobs, and the reestablishment of Suffolk County as a leader in the shell fishing industry.
- Increased protection against storm surges (coastal resiliency) through the protection of the submerged aquatic vegetation and wetlands plants that anchor our shores.
The public is invited to view the entire final Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan and related Draft General Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS). There, you will find the full list of recommendations of the wastewater strategy, including sewers, wastewater disposal at commercial sites and other mitigation strategies.
You can also obtain additional information on the County’s Reclaim Our Water initiative, including how to participate in the Septic Improvement Program, at the Reclaim Our Water website (www.reclaimourwater.info).
- Take advantage of the existing County, Town, and State grant programs to install nitrogen-reducing wastewater systems at your property. You can visit www.reclaimourwater.info to find out more!
- Tell your friends and co-workers about Suffolk County’s roadmap to clean and healthy water and ecosystems. Knowledge is power!
- Support the establishment of a stable and recurring funding source that will be required to solve the water quality crisis