Group appeals GN dumping order

Dan Glaun

Environmental protection group Save the Sound is appealing a consent order between the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District that allows increased nitrogen disposal in the Long Island Sound, according to a press release from the organization.

The consent order, signed in May by the DEC and water treatment plant operators, allows the district’s water treatment plant to dump 653 pounds of nitrogen per day off the coast of Fairfield, Nassau and Westchester counties. The previous limit was 238 pounds per day, with operators exceeding it to the tune of an average of 526 pounds of dumping each day.

In 2001, the EPA mandated a 58.5 percent reduction in nitrogen dumping in the Sound by 2016. The district’s plant was unable to meet the targets set by the order, and, following negotiations, the DEC set higher limits for the plant until 2014.

Save the Sound contends that the agreement violates the Clean Water Act and accuses the DEC of failing to notify the public as required.

“We should be moving forward and working to ensure that both Connecticut and New York are going to meet the 2014 nitrogen reduction goals, not sliding backwards,” said Leah Schmalz, director of legislative and legal affairs for Save the Sound in the press release. “Connecticut has made great strides in reducing nitrogen discharges by investing in the Clean Water Fund and upgrading our sewer systems. However, upgrades in New York are still lagging behind due to minimal funding and lax enforcement. By relaxing the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District’s nitrogen limit, NYSDEC is putting its stamp of approval on the continued pollution of the Sound.”

The DEC disputed the criticism in a statement to the Great Neck News.

“The consent order provides a path for bringing the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District into compliance with water quality standards by upgrading its facility to reduce nitrogen discharges. The order allows the district time to construct the upgrades and the district is on target to meet the order’s June 2014 deadline and Long Island Sound’s total maximum daily load,” wrote the DEC’s director of public information Emily DeSantis. “The result of the order’s requirements will be improved water quality for Long Island Sound.”

Oxygen levels in the Sound were measured in August at levels that are dangerous for marine life, according to the release.

The group is calling for the court to overturn the increase in nitrogen disposal limits and prevent the DEC from changing Great Neck’s pollution restrictions from now through 2014.

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