This article was written by Connecticut Sea Grant Communications Coordinator Judy Benson. You can view the original publication here. For information about the Long Island Schools Network, visit: https://seagrant.uconn.edu/?p=11404.
From the Bronx, Long Island and Westchester County in New York, to Connecticut’s hilly northwest corner and southeastern shoreline, elementary, middle and high schools students have been immersed in learning about Long Island Sound, the estuary that connects the two states.
During the 2023-2024 school year, six schools in Connecticut and four in New York were chosen for the newly formed Long Island Sound Schools Network. Funded by the Long Island Sound Study, the program provides funding and teacher stipends to support innovative learning projects that focus on the Sound and its watershed, marine life and the global ocean. The network is facilitated by Connecticut Sea Grant and Mercy University.
“I learned that we should join forces so we can help Long Island Sound to stay clean and healthy,” Diego Andres Contreras Giron, a fourth grader at Jefferson Elementary School in New Rochelle, N.Y., said on a recent Zoom presentation.
He spoke during a webinar that culminated the end of the first school year for the network with presentations by many of the 10 schools that showcased the energy and enthusiasm students and teachers are bringing to their projects.
“I really like the unique and creative approaches each team of teachers took to involve their classes and beyond in amazing projects,” said Diana Payne, CT Sea Grant education coordinator and co-leader of the network. “Some involved other grade levels and schools, some involved the entire community. Some focused on specific organisms such as oysters while some focused on broad aspects such as watersheds.”
The range of projects included:
Meghan Marrero, co-leader of the network, said she was impressed at the spirit of community outreach the network inspired. Schools involved other schools, older students taught younger ones, and Spanish speakers learned marine science in their native language, she noted. Marrero is professor of secondary science education and co-director of the Mercy University Center for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education.
“It goes to show there are many different entry points for becoming ocean literate,” she said. “The students’ enthusiasm was infectious, and I heard so much positivity from the teachers.”
During the Zoom meeting, several students shared their first-hand impressions of the projects they were part of. “It was so fun to interact with the younger kids,” said Suhana Sharma, a senior at Waterford High School in Connecticut. Added Zaya Haglund, a sophomore at the same school: “It’s more like fun learning.”
Selby Alvarez of Trinity Elementary in New Rochelle described the oyster dissection project her class did as “fun but messy and smelly,” while her classmate Dara Rezaee recalled what she learned about the history of oystering in New York. “It was interesting to learn that 100 years ago in New York, young children worked in oyster (processing) factories instead of going to school,” she said. Looking ahead, Payne and Marrero are preparing for a new group of Long Island Sound Network Schools for the 2024-2025 academic year. They also want to continue supporting what the first group started so ocean literacy becomes infused into the curriculum.
“We hope to truly improve ocean literacy in the Long Island Sound watershed, helping communities to feel more connected to the Sound and to the ocean in general,” Marrero said.
Ben Moon, director of STEM and magnet programs for the Groton, CT, school district, echoed that sentiment. When he worked with Mystic River Magnet School teacher Emma Rotner to develop a project for kindergarteners that included creation of a book about the ways people use water and a three-dimensional landscape model, they were already looking towards the future.
“One of our goals was for our project to have some sustainability to it,” he said.
In early summer, beachgoers and residents in Connecticut and New York might encounter a spiky, spider-like creature crawling up the shore. The American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, is an ancient creature that has existed since before the dinosaurs and has survived five mass extinction events. Despite their intimidating appearance, the American horseshoe crab is harmless and plays a crucial role in both human and environmental health. In 2020, the IUCN SSC Horseshoe Crab Specialist Group designated June 20 as International Horseshoe Crab Day.
To increase public awareness and improve data-gathering efforts for the species, Project Limulus was formed in 1998 by the late Dr. Jennifer Mattei, a professor of biology at Sacred Heart University.
Horseshoe crabs have remained nearly unchanged for roughly 445 million years and can be spotted frequenting the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Nova Scotia to as far south as Mexico. A special protein in their blood, Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL), can be used to detect bacterial endotoxins. In their presence, LAL will clot, making it easy for medical professionals to detect presence and contamination.
“In addition to their connections to human health, they have a strong connection to the local ecosystem, said Jo-Marie Kasinak, the program’s new director and former outreach coordinator. “In areas where you don’t have as many horseshoe crabs, you have a decrease in biodiversity in communities that are associated with them.”
In the Long Island Sound region, Project Limulus has reported almost no shorebirds eating horseshoe crab eggs, due to a lack of access to the eggs. Horseshoe crabs bury their nests in the sand and population density can lead to horseshoe crabs digging up other crab nests during spawning events, exposing eggs on the beach’s surface. The more abundant the species is, the more involved they can become in the local food web.
“We don’t have that kind of density,” said Kasinak. “The only bird or anything we’ve seen eating the eggs is a Canada goose. It sits on the nest and stirs up the sand with its feet.”
Overfishing, habitat loss, and warming waters due to climate change have decreased their numbers in Long Island Sound since the ‘90s. State resource managers, however, are looking to reverse this trend. In 2023, Connecticut passed a statewide ban on harvesting horseshoe crabs which went into effect in October. New York followed not far behind, passing a bill that would ban harvesting in the state’s legislature in early June of this year.
“I am glad to see these bans have come through because now we can give the crabs a chance to recover,” said Kasinak. “If we are seeing more adults able to breed successfully without being disturbed, we should also be able to find more babies.”
Project Limulus assesses shell condition and thickness to estimate age groups, from one to three, with one representing newly molted adults that have freshly entered the sexually mature pool. An increase in this population is expected, along with more sightings of juvenile crabs.
Project Limulus held outreach events throughout May and June across Connecticut, with tagging led by students. Graham Templeman, a graduate student at Southern Connecticut State University, returned for his third year spreading the word about horseshoe crabs. Templeman, who majored in biology as an undergraduate at SHU, had initially pursued a physical therapy track. A required ecology course with Mattei altered the trajectory of his career and Project Limulus is now an important part of his thesis, which explores how to statistically measure the concept of ocean identity.
Pioneered by a group of researchers including Kasinak and Mattei, ocean identity (OI) is defined as the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral connections people have to ocean spaces. Project Limulus is being used as a pilot case study to role out the new survey. Researchers hypothesize that those who attend outreach programs through the program will have a higher ocean identity.
“The cool part of Project Limulus is it’s all volunteer-based,” said Templeman. “We’re not forcing anyone to come out to these programs. For me, that’s really the best part. You have so many people who are eager and have a strong desire to learn more.”
Although horseshoe crabs are considered by some to be not particularly charismatic megafauna, Project Limulus researchers see them as an important species for getting people to care about other areas of maintaining a healthy ecosystem in and around Long Island Sound.
“People always tell me horseshoe crabs are creepy and alien-like. Yes, they look a little weird, but they don’t hurt you and the strangeness about them is a draw to me,” said Templeman. “These guys are really cool, they look different from most species, in addition to the fact that they are ancient. They are super resilient.”
Read the Spring 2024 issue of Sound Matters, the newsletter of the Long Island Sound Study. The PDF version available here. This issue highlights research projects conducted through the Long Island Sound Study Research Grant Program.
Nitrogen-based fertilizers are often used to nourish grass, giving it a vibrant green look. But when too much fertilizer is used, rainfall washes across sidewalks, driveways, and even lawns and gardens, carrying with it the extra fertilizer, which is filled with nutrients including nitrogen. Stormwater carries the overflow of nutrients to local waterways which ultimately drain into the Sound.
Once local waterways reach the estuary, the nitrogen in them can trigger the growth of algae populations that kill fish, poison shellfish that are later consumed by humans, shade underwater plants, and reduce the amount of oxygen in the water. As algal blooms decompose on the waters surface, oxygen is consumed in the process and the dead algae sinks to the sea floor. Oxygen levels are then left depleted, leaving aquatic life to suffocate and die.
Follow these tips, adapted from the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan, to keep both your lawn and the Sound healthy.
Formerly the Long Island Sound Study’s Connecticut Outreach Coordinator through Connecticut Sea Grant, Judy Preston is a self-proclaimed “plant person” who has spent her lifetime educating others about sustainable gardening practices.
In 2013, she developed the Coastal Certificate Program, a partnership between LISS and UConn Extension offering advanced certification to Master Gardeners and outreach to coastal and watershed residents about water quality issues affecting the Sound. The program’s curriculum centered on replacing lawns with wildlife habitats, native coastal plants, vegetative buffers, and resilient living shoreline projects.
“The types of people that joined were already totally motivated, they love gardening and were prepared to learn,” said Preston. “People had a pretty good sense of a broad spectrum of science and relating it directly to Long Island Sound and to the issue of hypoxia, but we also wanted to make sure that people could understand these issues start in your backyard. It was fun.”
Preston’s program inspired the Sound Coastal Gardening Partnership through Cornell Cooperative Suffolk. Led by Roxanne Zimmer, an educational program is set to pilot next year in New York including sessions with regional specialists and accompanying brochures. Program participants will be eligible to receive an advanced certification for water-wise gardening. The partnership hopes to teach homeowners best practices for lawn care and help them to understand the impact of their actions on the estuary.
Despite her retirement, Preston continues to educate the public on sustainable gardening and landscaping, most recently developing informative fact sheets. Chosen for their relevance and impact on the Sound, the fact sheets explore topics like riparian buffers, climate landscaping, native plants, and sustainable lawn care practices. Preston says there are limitless discussions to be had on building healthy ecosystems, but the biggest barrier seems to be a lack of information.
“And it takes work to do it. You can simplify it to a point, but ecosystems are complex things and I tried to get at some of that in these fact sheets,” said Preston. “We can look at nature as a template for how to group plants. People are always surprised to hear how amazing our natural environment is and all its complexities.”
Preston uses her yard as an experiment for educational opportunities, where you can find a 30-year-old shadbush adorned with winding poison ivy. Also sprinkled throughout her yard are bayberry shrubs, holly berry, and violets.
“Poison ivy is not only a beautiful vine but it has really nutritious berries in the fall that migrating birds come through and will consume,” she said. “All around my house, I’ve tried to be as consistent as I can with using natives.”
A 2022 survey by the National Wildlife Federation found that one in three people garden and landscape their yards with wildlife in mind, especially butterflies, bees, and birds. In addition to helping pollinators do their job, native plants are also well-adapted to survive harsh conditions with deep root systems that absorb excess rainwater.
“I’ve never seen this much receptivity in the press and community conversations about native plants,” Preston said. “I think people want to do the right thing which is why I love community-based stuff. People are talking about it much more than they did a decade ago, which is fantastic.”
Plants set the table for the food web by capturing sunlight and turning it into energy for everyone from small bugs to humans. They keep the air and water clean, produce oxygen, and absorb CO2 in the atmosphere which is often a driver of climate change. Plants along Long Island Sound’s coastline provide storm protection and contribute to a healthy ecosystem, reducing the amount of fertilizer and pesticides necessary to keep your garden healthy and happy. You can find a list of plants native to New York or Connecticut here. Connecticut Sea Grant also has a coastal planting guide available.
Riparian buffers act as transitional areas between land and water that help protect water quality. They provide many benefits, ranging from natural filtering of pollutants to providing habitat for wildlife throughout the Long Island Sound region.
“People don’t often understand the whole utility of why buffers work,” Preston said. “The hope is that this fact sheet makes it more understandable. It’s an important topic.”
Contaminated waters move through soil layers of the buffer while on their way to bordering water bodies. Through its travels, roots and soil organisms filter the water for extra nutrients or toxins and process them. Buffer areas can be filled with plants like trees and shrubs that build on soil layers, making for an added layer of protection. The leaf-covered and uneven ground helps soil organisms clean pollutants by allowing water to seep in. This, along with organic carbon from plants, helps remove nitrogen, a major threat to Long Island Sound. Even in the winter, riparian buffers can effectively remove nitrates. Shade from buffers can also provide a cooler and moister space for wildlife, especially migratory fish that are impacted by higher temperatures resulting from climate change.
Sustainable landscaping is one way that homeowners can take cues from nature to lessen the challenges of climate disruption. Enhancing biodiversity in local ecosystems affects our food supply, access to clean water, and fuels local economies. Preston describes her yard as messy, but not unkept. She says that using “cues to care” is ideal for maintenance.
“If you’re going to let your yard naturalize, what you need to do is have cues to care,” said Preston. “Don’t let it look abandoned or neglected. I mow around my islands of experiments so that people looking at my yard can see that it’s untraditional. A lot of people are still at the point where they want to see a lot of color, a lot of flowers, shrubs, but nature is infinitely more subtle than that.”
Some of Preston’s tips for landscaping include:
Preston views lawns as the most prominent issue of them all. During the 1950s and 60s, bright green manicured lawns became mainstream in America as more people moved to the suburbs. In a Fortune magazine article from 1952, Abraham Levitt, a garden columnist for the Levittown Tribune wrote “No single feature of a suburban residential community contributes as much to the charm and beauty of the individual home and the locality as well-kept lawns.”
To keep up the appearance of a vibrant healthy lawn, homeowners will oftentimes use chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and water their lawns. Preston says that the standardization from the 50s and 60s left a permanent imprint on what is viewed as correct landscaping.
In a world examining its use of limited resources with the changing climate, the environmental cost of an ideal weed-free American lawn is being reconsidered. Preston recommends homeowners gradually make changes to their lawns to support pollinators and reduce flooding from stormwater. This includes mowing higher and less often, watering in the early morning to reduce evaporation, and being frugal with fertilizer. When shifting away from a traditional lawn, homeowners can consider incorporating native grasses and low-lying flowering plants.
“There’s so many different ways that people can make a difference in their home landscapes,” said Preston. “Healthy watersheds is more than just nitrogen, all stormwater is carrying a bunch of stuff so that’s where the overlap in these fact sheets is. I think when you talk to individuals, they would really like to feel like they can make a difference, whether its on a balcony in your apartment or its in a community open space or in your backyard.”
Following a successful pilot in 2023, the ‘Garden Rewards’ program will soon accept applications for year two. Through the program, Long Island homeowners looking to help curb stormwater runoff are eligible for grants to help cover the cost of mitigation projects.
The program is a partnership between the Long Island Regional Planning Council (LIRPC), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), NEIWPCC, and the Long Island Sound Study. Homeowners can receive up to $500 in reimbursements to offset the expense of installing green infrastructure on their properties including rain barrels, native plantings, and rain gardens. These green infrastructure projects help to reduce the amount of stormwater flowing across homeowner yards, which conserves water and decreases the amount of nitrogen in stormwater runoff. Stormwater runoff is one of the leading causes of nitrogen pollution in waterways, leading to harmful algal blooms and low levels of dissolved oxygen in the Sound.
In its first year, the program distributed 235 reimbursements to Long Island residents, including 96 in the Long Island Sound watershed. Grants for residents in the watershed totaled $26,836, roughly 90 percent of available funds. Reimbursements were provided for 22 rain barrels, three rain gardens, and 82 native plants.
Kassidy Robinson, a Lindenhurst resident, introduced over 40 native plantings to her property last summer, providing a habitat for native birds, insects, and other wildlife all while improving the resiliency of the land to flooding and minimizing nutrient runoff.
In a testimonial from June, Robinson shared that “observing the many pollinators in my new native plant garden has been one of the highlights of my summer,” she said. “This project would not have been possible without the Garden Rewards Program. Having these incentives for homeowners to make a positive impact on their local communities and environments is a great step.”
Rainwater harvesting systems, like rain barrels, gather and save rainwater to be utilized later for watering homeowner lawns and gardens. Native plants, which are better suited to local climate conditions due to their adaptation to the environment, not only require less water, fertilizer, and pesticides, but also foster biodiversity in the local ecosystem. Rain gardens facilitate the absorption of rainfall into the soil, filtering it before it reaches water bodies, thus mitigating pavement-related flooding and enhancing yards with low-maintenance landscaping.
The low maintenance and high resilience of native plants was a motivating factor for Rachel Bosworth, a Southold resident who participated in Garden Rewards last year. She planted the common blue violet (Viola sororia), wild ginger (Asarum canadense), and American alumroot, or “coral bells” (Heuchera americana var. americana). Bosworth found out about the program through the Group for the East End, a conservation, education, and advocacy group based on the northeastern tip of Long Island. The Group for the East End taught Bosworth about the invasive species in her yard and helped to convince her to remove them and swap in natives.
“I think it’s a great program to incentivize people to make a change,” she said. “This has always been something I wanted to do, but learning about Garden Rewards gave me the push I needed to get started and now I’m kind of addicted to the idea of buying more and more native plants.”
Interested participants from year one can request yard signs to help spread the word about ‘Garden Rewards’ and encourage community members and neighbors to participate in the program. After receiving feedback last fall, improvements were also made to streamline the submission process.
“I am excited for the launch of year two,” said Sarah Healy, NEIWPCC’s Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan lead. “It has been great to see many people take the initiative to improve water quality across Long Island.”
Applications for the current cycle of reimbursements will offer grants on a first come first serve basis. You can find the submission form here.
A resident of Great South Bay replaced his front lawn with purple love grass and added native grasses and wildflowers along the foundation. Once established, the lawn won’t need to be watered or fertilized. Photo courtesy of LIRPC.
A Northport resident adorned her rain garden with a sign. Photo courtesy of LIRPC.
Photo courtesy of NEIWPCC.
Chris joined the Long Island Sound Study with NEIWPCC in October of 2023 as the Long Island Sound Regional Coordinator, assisting in the planning and execution of activities for LISS. He supports the implementation of the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan’s nitrogen reduction strategies, assists in providing technical support for EPA’s LIS Nitrogen Reduction Strategy, offers grant oversight and management, and helps municipalities evaluate their policies and programs for water quality funding opportunities.
As the Long Island Sound Regional Coordinator, the overarching goal of my work is to improve water quality in the Sound. I provide technical support for multiple projects that aim to educate the public regarding their contribution to a healthy Sound, and ultimately reduce nutrients and other contaminants entering the watershed. Enhancing water quality in the Sound supports a plethora of recreational and commercial activities for its users.
The Long Island Sound Study partnership encapsulates all my interests in marine conservation as it addresses water quality, wildlife, sustainability, community engagement, and many more topics. Being born and raised on Long Island, it is a privilege to be part of the team working to protect this invaluable resource that has provided me with joy and peace over the years.
I joined the LISS Team at a time of great change, as the 2025 Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP) Revision began just before I started. Revising this lengthy document is quite the task, but it has been an insightful experience thus far and feels rewarding as we make significant progress. This plan will guide management and funding to the LIS, and I am honored to be a team leader during the writing process.
My favorite bird of all time is our nation’s bird – the Bald Eagle. I have seen numerous active eagle nests on the north shore of Long Island, particularly in tall pine trees surrounding LIS embayments. I am always in awe of their size and nobility as they perch high in the canopy. Piping Plovers come in at a close second!
I am an avid surfer. Spending countless hours in the ocean has taught me a lot about myself and enhanced my connection with nature. What other hobby allows you to glide on water in the presence of whales, dolphins, seals, and countless other animals?
Pizza. Nothing tops a cold cheese slice from Little Vincents!
Formed in 2021, the Sustainable and Resilient Communities (SRC) team brings together five Extensional Professionals strategically located in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties in New York, and in Eastern and Western Connecticut. Guided by the LISS Sustainable and Resilient Communities Work Group, the SRC team works to provide community decision-makers with the resources needed to have an organized regional response to climate change through improved education, outreach, and funding support.
Throughout March, the SRC team ran a series of funding workshops across the Long Island Sound region. Workshops were held on March 7 in Groton, Connecticut, March 21 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and March 28 in Hauppauge, New York. A Clean Water Infrastructure Workshop sponsored by New York State Assemblyman Steve Otis was also held in Rye on February 29, featuring a presentation about grant writing assistance and other resources provided by the SRC team.
The workshops combined attracted over 200 attendees, representing a diverse range of stakeholders, including state and other funding agencies, municipal officials, local nonprofits, regional planning entities, conservation organizations, and academic institutions. Workshops facilitated feedback on new project ideas from past grant recipients and funders, providing an opportunity to network, collaborate, and support important dialogue on resilience-related funding.
Panelists for each session were selected for their expertise as past recipients of state and federal grant monies. You can read some examples of their projects below.
Hauppauge Panelists:
Groton Panelists:
Bridgeport Panelists:
A walk in Cove Island Park is often accompanied by the echoes of laughter and excitement of children. Nestled on the water’s edge is the SoundWaters Coastal Education Center, a hub for scientific exploration and learning since 1990. Through workforce development and after-school learning programs, SoundWaters has fostered a community of young scientists from Stamford and area schools with a deep sense of ownership over the Sound and its waters. The week of April 15–19 was a busy time for the education center, as it hosted two student learning programs.
Fifteen years ago, local educators recognized the need for an inclusive science space for young girls to get hands-on in labs. That’s when Science Stars was born, a week-long introductory science program for girls in grades 2-5. This year, 65 girls from the Stamford public school district were grouped into three teams—the Perceptive Periwinkles, Motivated Mussels, and Curious Cormorants. Team names were crafted to inspire active learning while tying into the different focus areas for each team. During the week, the Periwinkles studied beach habitats, the Mussels looked at salt marshes, and the Cormorants concentrated on birding and plant life.
The girls’ favorite activity was seining, a method of fishing using a large net that hangs vertically in the water.
“They get super excited about it,” said Autumn Lauria, an educator at SoundWaters. “Some of our repeated Science Stars are able to actually identify some of the most common animals in the Sound.”
One of those students is Annabella, a fifth grader who joined Science Stars for a third time this year with dreams of becoming a marine biologist.
“SoundWaters is fun,” Anabella said. “We get to go out in the water and put waders on.”
Another repeat student, Genesis, a fourth grader, developed a love for marine life through SoundWaters’ summer programs. She has ambitions to become both a marine biologist and zoologist when she grows up.
“I love how we get to interact with science and animals,” Genesis said. “Toadfish are my favorite because they have no scales and feel really soft.”
In addition to seining, the girls also heard presentations from female professionals in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), decorated sea shells, built strength chains, and went out on SoundWaters’ teaching vessel, a replica of an 18th century schooner. The education center was founded on the ship, which can be seen sailing with school students from April to November on Long Island Sound.
Building on the success of Science Stars, a new program ran during the same week titled Long Island Sound Week, or LIS Week, where otherwise unfamiliar high school students were invited to dip their toes into environmental research. While many likely spent their April vacation catching up on rest or spending time with friends, a group of ten teens were on site at the Cohen SoundWaters Harbor Center.
Carly, a junior at Greenwich High School, was recommended to attend LIS Week by her marine biology teacher.
“Why not do something that I love?” she said. “I work part-time at the Maritime Aquarium and have always enjoyed going to the beach.”
Carly partnered up with Reagan, a sophomore student at Darien High School, for a research activity that tasked students with marking the age of harvested mussels by counting the rings on their shells. After writing down predictions, students then bleached the shells to get a clearer view of the lines and a more accurate age estimate. In addition to research, the LIS Week program included getting out in the field. Strapped up in waders, students participated in a Bio Blitz making records of observed birds, plants, and wildlife in and around the Sound.
“We want to introduce students to the Long Island Sound natural resource as widely as possible,” said Leigh Shemitz, president of SoundWaters. “And we do everything we can to create that access and opportunity.”
Since 2006, the Long Island Sound Study has provided over $138,000 in grant funding for SoundWaters projects through the Long Island Sound Futures Fund.
On February 15, 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul announced more than $166 million awarded to 187 water quality improvement projects (WQIP) throughout New York. Included in the total grant pool is $5.8 million from the Long Island Sound Study, made possible by Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The grant will support improvements to the Port Washington Water Pollution Control District’s wastewater treatment plant in Nassau County, which discharges to Manhasset Bay, a stewardship area of LISS and one of several major embayments on Long Island’s North Shore. The bay’s waters have been designated a significant coastal fish and wildlife habitat since 1987, productive especially for marine finfish. Water bodies surrounding Port Washington have been impacted by contamination from stormwater runoff, aged septic systems, and occasional sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), causing high levels of fecal coliform bacteria in waters.
Improvements to the plant’s approximately 16,000 linear feet of underground pipes will reduce SSOs—the release of untreated or partially treated sewage from a city’s sewer system, which will improve both bacteria levels and water quality in the Sound. The Long Island Sound Study grant will cover 80 percent of the total project cost, helping to lessen the tax burden on residents of the district, which services over 28,000 people. Construction will start in early 2025.
“Nationwide we are investing in clean water and providing billions of dollars to improve our nation’s water infrastructure while safeguarding people’s health and boosting local economies,” said Lisa Garcia, EPA Region 2 Administrator, in a press release from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “This is a critical moment in time to upgrade water infrastructure in New York State and we commend the state for making these vital improvements, particularly in underserved communities.”
The Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, formed in 1998, performs routine water quality monitoring of the bay’s waters, registering some of its highest bacteria concentrations at sampling stations near the Port Washington plant. The most significant contributor to bacteria levels in the bay is aging and failing sewage infrastructure which, over time, is more likely to leak sewage. The Port Washington Water Pollution Control District was originally built in 1915. Most of its infrastructure is at least 50 years old, with some portions over 100 years old, putting it at a higher risk of blockages and pipe line breaks which cause overflows. However, with updates for this project, the system’s sewer pipes will be able to stay in service for an additional 50 years.
“Everything is aging,” said Sarah Deonarine, Executive Director of the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee. “So any improvement to nearby sewer infrastructure is huge for Manhasset Bay and will help us improve water quality in the area.”
The anticipated end date for construction is 2026. Round 19 of WQIP awards also includes three state-funded projects within the Long Island Sound watershed, including a Crab Meadow Watershed Water Quality Improvement Plan by the Town of Huntington, a Narrow River Aquatic Habitat Connectivity Restoration Project by the Town of Southold, and a Shore Road Habitat Restoration Project by the North Shore Land Alliance. You can read more about the Water Quality Improvement Program here.
The Sewage Pollution Right to Know Law (SPRTK) requires that publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) and publicly owned sewer systems (POSSs) report sewage spills to the public within four hours of discovery. The NY-Alert system relays sewage discharge alerts to the public directly through phone calls, emails, and texts. Anybody interested in receiving sewage discharge notifications is encouraged to sign-up for NY-Alert by visiting the Sewage Pollution Right to Know webpage.