The East Hampton Town Board voted on June 6 to approve six of its water quality technical advisory committee’s seven recommendations to fund projects, from a motel in Montauk to Clinton Academy, that emerged from the committee’s first request for applications in 2023.
Up to 20 percent of community preservation fund proceeds can be allocated to water quality initiatives annually. The town issues a biannual request for applications to fund projects ranging from wastewater treatment improvement to aquatic habitat restoration and abatement of pollutants. The committee considers the merits of each and provides recommendations to the town board, which votes on approval of the expenditures.
Members of the committee presented recommendations on May 9. A June 1 public hearing drew two comments, both in support of the grant awards, and the board voted to fund all but one of the committee’s recommendations.
Sag Harbor Village will see a $645,836 grant for the second phase of an expansion of its wastewater management district to include more residences. Last year, the town awarded the village $288,800 for final engineering design for in-street piping to collect and convey 9,800 gallons of wastewater per day from “sewershed L” to its sewage treatment plant. In the second phase, street-to-residence piping will be installed, removing 33 East Hampton and seven Southampton Town properties from conventional cesspools.
Cornell Cooperative Extension will receive $341,655 for the next phases of an ammonium plume remediation project through a multiphase permeable reactive barrier to intercept groundwater flow reaching Accabonac Harbor at the Springs General Store. This will see long-term monitoring and treatment of ammonia using aerated treatment columns that carry contaminated water toward the surface for easier additional treatment. Ammonia is converted to nitrate and can then be treated with a wood chip-based permeable reactive barrier. The committee is to monitor the project’s results annually to justify continued monitoring into the next cycle.
The extension will also receive $111,843 for the second phase of a multiphase project to reduce groundwater nitrogen entering Hog Creek in Springs. The town previously retained the group to identify hotspots of nitrogen intrusion. The project calls for three permeable reactive barriers in those trouble areas — the northeast, western shoreline, and southern headwaters — and nutrient reduction by removing plants during the summer.
The Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook University will receive $113,869 for the installation of wood chip biofilter polishing units at eight sites in the town where an innovative alternative septic system is being, or was previously, installed. The sites are to be chosen based on criteria approved by the committee in priority areas. The purpose is to reduce nitrogen from effluent below what such alternative systems are at present capable of. The award is conditioned on the committee’s review and the town board’s approval by resolution of the individual properties.
The East Hampton Historical Society was awarded a $65,000 grant to upgrade a failing conventional septic system with an innovative alternative model at Clinton Academy in the village.
A $42,689 award was granted to Ditch Plains Cottages, a five-unit motel in Montauk, to upgrade a conventional septic system that suffered a “catastrophic failure” with an innovative model.
The board did not approve a seventh recommendation from the committee, a $434,800 grant to Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton for a constructed wetland wastewater treatment system to replace the existing septic system. Councilman David Lys had voiced concern about the project’s cost at the May 9 presentation, stating that an alternative system could do the job at a much lower cost.
