Water quality and environmental well-being are taking top billing these days. Along with East Hampton Town, Suffolk is taking steps to reduce the amount of nitrogen and other pollutants in household wastewater. Homeowners have been invited to sign up for as much as $21,000 in county loans and grants to install low-pollution treatment systems, while the town is working on a rebate program that would provide funds for up to 100 percent of the cost of cesspool replacement in vulnerable watershed areas using money from the community preservation fund.

Meanwhile, East Hampton Town Republicans have weighed in, presenting a plan of their own that calls for inspections of private waste systems by a new town employee and the creation of a database of systems in need of upgrades. For this, they suggest state and/or federal money could be used rather than the preservation fund.

Suffolk’s program will provide money for the replacement of up to 400 outdated, failed, or poorly designed systems. Up to $11,000 in an outright grant will be available per eligible applicant, with additional money available as an optional 15-year loan at 3 percent interest. This is notable given that single-family wastewater systems can cost between $15,000 and $17,000, according to latest estimates. Participation will be by application, with a starting date of July 1. Details about how to sign up have not been finalized.

Response from the environmental community to the town and county initiatives has been warm, but an undercurrent of concern remains. Suffolk is estimated to have at least 360,000 residential cesspools or other systems that do not adequately reduce the risk of contaminants entering waterways and drinking water. Neither Suffolk’s 400-property program nor the town’s rebates deal with the massive scale of the problem.

It should be remembered that both plans target only residential waste, ignoring equally significant sources of pollution from commercial properties. Kevin McAllister, the founder of Defend H2O, has said that quite a few businesses in eastern Suffolk appear to be in violation of the federal 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act, which called for them all to be replaced by now. Many of the sites in East Hampton where questions about this have been raised drain toward Lake Montauk.

To truly be effective, the town’s and county’s efforts must expand to include businesses. At the same time, long-term thinking must be given to centralized sewage treatment for the most vulnerable areas.

Suffolk’s failed and failing septic systems are thought to outnumber those in the entire State of New Jersey. Need we say more?

Many in the commercial fishing industry are frustrated with the pace of planning a planned wind farm in the Atlantic east of Montauk. The project, they say, will hurt their ability to make a living and they are feeling left behind by public officials and by public sentiment, which appears largely supportive. Aware of these concerns, Deepwater Wind, the company planning the turbines, wants to hire a handful of local representatives to help smooth the waters.

Balancing the needs of fishermen with the increasing call for renewable energy is a tough order. Seafood harvesters here have long expressed displeasure at what they see as excessive and unnecessary regulation. Now, with the industrialization of portions of their fishing grounds, they fear a slippery slope in which productive areas are put out of reach. Their concerns are important and have to be weighed carefully.

There are no easy or cost-free solutions to the soaring electricity demands of our modern society. Traditional fossil-fuel power plants are among the largest sources of damaging emissions. Wind is part of a less-polluting future that will also have to include the reduction of demand as well as land-based generation by solar and other “green” methods. 

Given the dire predictions on the effects of global warming, ocean sites for wind farms will have to be part of the answer. As the calls for tapping the consistent offshore winds grow, we must keep in mind the people who make their living from fishing. At this point, Deepwater’s search for the $50-an-hour representatives seems more for show than an indication of substantive concession to the industry’s legitimate concerns. 

Assuming that offshore wind will inevitably be utilized on a large scale, much more effort should be made to place turbines away from important fishing areas — including the site in Deepwater’s plans on the traditionally productive Cox’s Ledge. In addition, members of the commercial fishing industry who are displaced or suffer economic losses must be compensated, either through subsidies or tax breaks. 

The fishing fleet will enjoy the benefits of a greener planet, along with the rest of us, but it should not have to endure a disproportionate part of the cost.

We were surprised to read recently that New York City prohibits rentals of fewer than 30 days. This is in an effort to keep apartments from being turned into de facto hotels and to protect the interests of neighbors and neighborhoods. Contrast that with East Hampton Town’s confusing regulations, which allow four sub-two-week rentals a year, provided that only two are in the same six-month period and that they are registered with the town clerk’s office. 

While these rules might have made sense to those drafting them, in the real world they have negligible impact. Airbnb, the leading online short-term booking site, recently showed hundreds of nightly availabilities, few of which included East Hampton’s required registry number. Many of these boasted space for multiple guests, implying arrangements that could exceed the townwide limit of four unrelated adults per house. “My place is good for couples, families (with kids), and big groups,” the owner of a Montauk house that could sleep as many as 14 people boasted. 

From appearances, the town is not paying enough attention. There are one or two high-profile share house busts each summer, sure. But routine flouting of the law by homeowners who market their properties to groups or for high-turnover short stays needs greater focus.

Residents’ complaints during summer are largely about overcrowding. Until the town gets serious about enforcing single-family residence rules nothing is going to change.

The rescue off Montauk Point of two people from a small boat taking on water Saturday should serve as a reminder of the dangers of cold water. 

A press release from the Montauk Coast Guard Station said the two people had set out from shore in a folding boat of the sort more appropriate for a lake or other enclosed waterway. Tides at the Point run hard, and their small trolling motor was quickly overpowered. A passing charter boat captain who heard a distress alert spotted the boaters and stayed with them until the Coast Guard arrived. Had he not been nearby, the outcome might have been tragic.

Though the air temperature here can be comfortable, the bays and ocean lag far behind. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s buoy data, available online, the water temperature now remains about 48 degrees, low enough to produce hypothermia in a person immersed for under five minutes. For a sense of just how low that is, run 50-degree tap water over your hand for a while. Then try to imagine your entire body in it. Surfers this week were still in full neoprene suits, most with hoods, thick gloves, and booties. Other water sports enthusiasts should take note.

It may be easy to scoff at this story, but examples of people who take the water less seriously than they should are plentiful. For example, as the popularity of stand-up paddleboarding has boomed, too few of those heading out pay attention to the regulation that they carry an approved floatation device. 

The rescued Montauk boaters were lucky; they had with them a portable VHF radio with which they made an initial call for help. Though their choice to test Block Island Sound was a bad one, at least they were prepared to summon assistance. Consider theirs a cautionary tale.

As the United States enters a dark age for environmental protection by Washington, the job has come down both literally and figuratively to our own backyards. 

A Republican Congress eager to remove what it views as unfair impediments to business has gained an eager champion in President Trump. The suppression of climate change programs and funding cuts are causing great alarm. A former anti-Environmental Protection Agency state attorney general has been put in charge of that agency. A lifelong oilman is the new secretary of state. Mr. Trump has vowed to return the coal industry to its lightly regulated glory days. 

Other moves have included a proposed $1.5 billion cut in the National Park Service allotment and hints that the administration will dump Obama-era vehicle emissions standards as well as longstanding water rules. The damage could take decades to undo.

States have taken steps of their own. New York is set to become only the second in the nation to get nonpolluting electricity from offshore wind turbines when the Deepwater project 30 miles east of Montauk goes online in 2022. Important, too, is $2.5 billion in the new state budget for clean water, including $110 million for land purchases.

On Long Island, the East End towns and Suffolk County have recently accelerated water-quality programs. East Hampton is finalizing the rules for septic system upgrade rebates. County Executive Steve Bellone has announced that grants and loans for homeowners will soon be available for new high-tech, low-contaminant systems.

The goal of all these efforts is to protect drinking water in this crowded county, as well as to reduce the nutrient pollution that is overpowering marine and freshwater ecosystems, killing fish, shellfish, and the micro-organisms on which they depend. In some cases, algal blooms can lead to elevated toxins and bacteria that are dangerous to humans. There are even atmospheric effects, particularly linked to nitrogen, that can raise ammonia and ozone, which can impair breathing, limit visibility, and hamper plant growth.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation began a campaign this week to encourage the use of phosphorus-free lawn fertilizers and native plants and grasses. It also is promoting letting lawn clippings remain in the yard and maintaining grass at a height of at least three inches to allow deep root growth, which is more able to withstand weeds and drought. These are steps in the right direction. 

Advocates of a soft approach to the home landscape say slow-release fertilizer, or, better, organic compost, is preferable to aggressive treatments aimed at getting the lawn emerald green by Memorial Day. The Perfect Earth Project, based here, has tips on more environment-friendly methods of lawn care — and favors a three-and-a-half-inch height for grass, among other things. The Peconic Land Trust offers free organic lawn-care advice on Wednesdays at Bridge Gardens in Bridgehampton; it also will answer questions at [email protected].

Earth Day is Saturday. Given the weather, many of us are likely to be tending our lawns and gardens and making choices about what products to use. This year, perhaps more than ever, organic, earth-friendly solutions are essential.

School district budget planning has recently been without customary fireworks. In part, this is because a state cap on how much taxes can be increased has taken the heat out of the process, with a supermajority of voter approval necessary to pierce the cap. This is not to suggest that school spending is unimportant; rather, as the work educators do gets ever more complex, how money is allotted remains key.

Hearings at which the budgets are officially presented to the public will be held on Monday in Sag Harbor, Tuesday in Wainscott and East Hampton, and Wednesday in Bridgehampton and Montauk. Springs residents will get their turn to learn about the 2017-18 budget on May 8, and in Amagansett and Sagaponack on May 9. In all districts, budget voting takes place on May 16. 

The hearings are excellent opportunities to find out about the respective districts’ plans for the year ahead. Parents and other interested residents should make every effort to attend.

John Keeshan, who was in the news last week for folding his eponymous real estate agency into the Compass group, made the papers some years back with his push to get rid of the welter of utility lines that mar the view as one approaches Montauk’s commercial center from the west. The effort to bury the wires stalled, as do many such things, because of money, or, more accurately, the lack thereof. Elsewhere, well-heeled residents have banded together to create special tax districts to pay for taking down the poles; in Montauk that prospect was never good.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who has long heard complaints about the ugly overhead lines, and more recently the extension of utility poles, has offered a variety of solutions, which for the most part went nowhere. Now he has taken a different tack, presenting a bill that would create a statewide fund using money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. His argument is that underground utilities are far less vulnerable to outages in storms. Long Island, with its susceptibility to hurricanes, and upstate, where ice storms frequently take down electrical service, would both benefit. And more and more violent weather events caused by global warming give greater urgency to fortifying New York’s utilities.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, electricity on much of Long Island was cut off for up to two weeks, with damaging economic effects. Underground power lines would help avert that the next time. As a bonus, the entry to Montauk would sure look a heck of a lot better. 

East Hampton Town Trustee Pat Mansir’s surprise resignation last week presents a good opportunity to make some general observations about the town’s oldest continuous government body and how it must now change to keep up with the times.

The trustees date back to the early Colonial era and, at that time, were East Hampton’s only local government. Authority was conferred by charters handed down with British crown authority. The most important, the Dongan Patent of 1686, established the Trustees of Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of East Hampton, whose successors are the trustees we now know.

Ms. Mansir’s departure brought the trustees’ ranks to eight members, down from its customary nine. This is a step in the right direction, we believe, because of the unwieldy nature of an elected board of that size. The nine-justice Supreme Court stands in contrast; its members serve for life but don their robes only after presidential nomination and an exhaustive Senate confirmation process. The East Hampton Town trustees are elected in one fell swoop, which asks the average voter to do the impossible: Make an informed choice among as many as 18 candidates. As a result, there have been plenty of duds and no-shows among the trustees over the years, as voters have had to resort to following the party line or picking a candidate whose last name sounds as if it is from a local fishing family. It would be far better to stagger their terms, so that only a portion of the seats would be in play in any one election.

The trustees should also take this moment to assume a more professional operating procedure, sticking to agendas and empowering its chosen clerk to rein in disruptive members in the interest of decorum and everyone’s time. More staff might help, too, as would a clearer definition of what a trustee’s job entails. Ms. Mansir’s resignation indicates that the trustees could use a tuneup, but they are definitely worth keeping around. 

It is a dilemma. On one hand, Representative Lee Zeldin would like to meet with his constituents. On the other hand, he does not want to be the focus of confrontations by First District residents who do not agree with his support for President Trump. So what is a congressman to do?

The answer comes from technology. Following Mr. Zeldin’s decision to cancel an April 18 public session in Southampton, he announced this week on Facebook that he would hold a town hall meeting tonight, by telephone. The catch is that participation requires those who want to take part to fill out a form on Mr. Zeldin’s official House of Representatives secure website, furnishing a name, address, phone number, and email. 

On the surface, asking participants to sign up in advance might be a reasonable way to assure an orderly discussion. Looking a little deeper, however, it could be interpreted as a way to limit the audience to those who are more likely to agree with the congressman’s views. 

At worst, the requirement excludes the voices of people who are not comfortable sharing personal details online, as well as those who fear, rightly or wrongly, some sort of unspecified retaliation. 

Nowhere in the First Amendment guaranteeing free speech does it say that Americans who have something to say must identify themselves in order to do so. Whether or not it was the founders’ intent, the United States has a long tradition of political involvement that allows opinions to be heard anonymously. Indeed, federal election rules now allow for so-called dark money contributions, suggesting a degree of comfort at the national level with not knowing who is doing, or paying for, the talking.

That said, it is hard to believe it would be so difficult for Mr. Zeldin to appear at an actual public forum right now, even if that meant being yelled at by angry voters for an hour or so. Maybe he could keep a nice cup of chamomile tea at the ready, taking a soothing sip to keep his cool when the going got tough. Maybe he could gaze at the audience while thinking to himself about the ocean. Then, after he took his lumps, he might let off steam privately. Remember, this is a rough-and-tumble Army veteran who boasts of being in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. How bad could an audience of detractors be?

Meanwhile, Mr. Zeldin’s staff seems to be taking cues from the White House. Jennifer DiSeinna, his press aide, has been busy with news releases about how busy her boss’s schedule has been. This is at the same time as she characterized those who want to confront to him as “liberal obstructionists” and repeated disputed statements about supposed disruptions by protesters at a January appearance by Mr. Zeldin.

Media access to Mr. Zeldin has been limited as well. Though he appears eager to appear on television news channels, his office has said he has been unavailable for routine phone interviews, instead responding to reporters’ questions only by email.

Mr. Zeldin could show leadership by stepping beyond controlled forums like tonight’s telephone town hall and visits with sympathetic groups to listen directly to people in his district regardless of their political positions. Yes, some in the audience might get loud, some might even call him names, but that is what comes with the job. 

Football in East Hampton, though not dying, according to the sport’s energetic coach, Joe McKee, has a problem because the high school’s new enrollment numbers have kicked it up into the hard-playing, black-and-blue Conference III, whose players greatly outweigh those of East Hampton’s, on average.

The kids, and presumably most of their parents, would rather remain in Conference IV, even if it means agreeing to forgo the playoffs — a proposal the district’s athletic director, Joe Vas, has brought before the Section XI football committee, the group of officials who govern high school sports in Suffolk. Three years ago, when Mr. Vas last asked, the answer was no, prompting East Hampton to eliminate football in the fall of 2014 — only the fourth time since 1923 that the Bonackers did not field a team.

Safety is Mr. Vas’s primary concern. While the combative sport never will be completely safe, the likelihood of serious injury is considered mitigated when teams are evenly matched in size and ability. He has also proposed that a new conference, an ability-grouped Conference V, be formed. It would be made up of schools in Port Jefferson, Babylon, Hampton Bays, Southampton, and McGann-Mercy in Riverhead, whose football programs are struggling. It would cut down on travel time, too, with the fuel savings going toward outfitting the new conference’s football players with the most advanced — and safest — equipment.

Years ago, other coaches and athletic directors made a plea for western and eastern leagues in Suffolk that would take into account enrollment, ability, and geography, the dividing line being Route 112. It made sense then, and it makes sense now.