2011-10-27

              0Iff
tl
V
It
Keen up on breaking news!
Become our
fan on facebook
Bookmark us on the web
fniTisi JL JHL Jo Is
Freeport comes home
FREEPORT HOMECOMING From left: Dance-team prepares to take the field, Freeport moved its record to 7-0 with a 44-29
victory over East Meadow; the Red Devil mascot raised school spirit. "
photos by Chris McBride and Linda Hendrickson
Right to know - public notification when sewage spills occur
by Laura Schofer
In August record rainfall - first on the
14th and then when Tropical Storm Iiene
hit on August 28 - impacted the health and
safety of our waterways when problems
occurred at the South Shore's Cedar Creek
and Bay Park sewage treatment plants.
Yet the public was not notified.
"There is currently no law requiring
municipalities or the DEC to notify mem-bers
of the public" when a sewage over-flow
occurs," said Adrienne Esposito,
executive director for the Citizens
Campaign for the Environment. "This is
wrong. The public deserves to be noti-fied."
On August 14, "5,000 gallons of treat-ed
but not chlorinated sewage effluent
from the final settling .tanks and rain
water spilled onto the grass and roadway
at the Cedar Creek plant and then entered
the storm drains that drain into Wantagh
Creek," said Bill Fonda, spokesperson
for the state DEC.
On the same day, in nearby Baldwin,
there was a raw sewage back-up into the
homes and roadway on Barns Avenue.
Manholes, which were bolted down, lift-ed
several inches above the road, allow-ing
sewage to flow down the road, onto
lawns, in gardens and through basements.
Ultimately, the sewage discharged into
Parsonage Creek, a tributary into the
South Shore Estuary Reserve.
"Days later those who were unaware of .
this release could be seen fishing and
crabbing in Parsonage Creek," said Ms.
Esposito. "Many residents don't know
what's going on and when the water is
effected. Ignorance is not bliss; ignorance
is dangerous. The law cultivates igno-rance
and as a result people aire getting
sick."
Between 2003 and 2011 there were
over 600 New York State permit dis-charge
violations from local sewage
treatment plants, accprding to SPLASH,
an environmental watchdog group which
monitors the health and safety of our
waters along the South Shore.
At Bay Park in East Rockaway, there
were seven violations in June for exceed-ing
settleable solids, total suspended
solids and turbidity standards. In March
of 2010, over 3.5 million gallons of
sewage overflowed, creating a brown
plume. The public only learned about
these spills after resident Scott Bockner
videotaped the brown plume and put it up
on YouTube.
.The county .must notify the DEC
when there has been a sewage spill. It is
required to notify the DEC'S Division of
Water within 24 hours. If the sewage
spill has'the potential to impact shell-fish
harvesting areas the county is
required to notify the DEC's Bureau of
Marine Resources within two hours of
the spill.
Although beaches may be closed down
due to spills, the county Board of Health
will only make warnings "if the. area is a
lifeguarded body of water," explained
Mr. Bockner, a member of. Sludge
Stoppers who has been monitoring the
spills at Bay Park. "So are you telling me,
we have to put a lifeguard to stand there
all the time? And what about those
Jetskiing or boating or fishing?"
To address this problem, county
Legislator David Denenberg 'wrote the
Nassau County Right to Know of a Spill
Bill, docket number 138-11, that would
require the Nassau County Department of
Health to alert the public, through the
media, about a sewage spill that could
effect .waterway use and activities includ-ing
swimming and diving, as well as
commercial and recreational fishing.
"It was written to be like the mosquito
spraying bill. We used the same language
and we thought this is about our health,
why not pass it?" asked Mr. Bockner.
(continued on page 3)
NAMES MAKE THE NEWS: Read about your neighbors! 148 local people's names were in your community newspaper this past week. Maybe yours is in this week! See inside.
Freeport
Village Board
page 3
Sex offender
arrest in Baldwin
page 5
Sporting Devils
page 6
Council district
candidates
page 8