Dan's Papers - August 22, 2008

You collect your youngsters to go to a nice, gentle beach. But when you get there, you see a sign stating that the beach is closed, having been declared "unsafe for bathing."

So where is this? Bayonne, New Jersey? Staten Island Fishkill's?

No. It's right in the heart of Sag Harbor at Havens Beach.

Wait a minute. How can this be? After all, the Hamptons has spent half a billion dollars in the last 10 years on preservation of land - and there's contaminated water?

Yes. Considerably high levels of coliform bacteria have been found through testing the water at Havens. Town officials have put forth myriad explanations for what could be the problem, including a pipe that carries storm water into the bay at Havens (exacerbated by some serious rainfall of late), waterfowl excrement, illegal waste discharge from boats, and even dog waste from a nearby area used as a dog run. Whatever the cause, local and county authorities have failed to act. In fact, between 2006 and 2007, more than a half-dozen advisories were issued from the Suffolk County Health Department to prohibit swimming at Havens. This summer, three advisories were issued. The result is a beach with unswimmable water in a beautiful spot right in the heart of town.

I spoke to famous East Hampton plumber "Johnny Pipes," who thinks the problem is the sewage treatment plant nearby.

"I don't think it's the storm runoff," he said. "I think that they are just not doing a thorough job at the sewage treatment plant. If they were, that stuff wouldn't be in the water."

Sag Harbor Mayor Greg Ferraris has reportedly stated that the advisory is not based on actual readings. (The call to his office for information on this topic was not answered before deadline.) Suffolk County Health official Mac Waters shared his personal thoughts. He said that advisories are issued after severe rainfalls due to the fact that a town drainpipe that handles overflow drains into that beach area. He said the advisory is just a safety warning of the possibility of a potential problem - not necessarily an actual problem. Waters said that the beach was not officially closed and referred me to the Suffolk County Health Public Relations spokesman for more information. Groups including the Peconic Baykeeper are calling for more extensive action because they believe the problem extends beyond the drainpipe. Perhaps there have been days when Havens Beach was not suitable for swimming yet was open, even though high levels of fecal coliform bacteria (enterocci) are found on occasion at considerably higher ratios than desired.

Perhaps "Johnny Pipes" is correct. Maybe on certain days the sewage plant doesn't do its job thoroughly. He's just guessing. And at the moment, so is everyone else. No one is definitive in identifying the problem, or determining a solution - other than removing the lifeguard, which is the official sign that the beach is closed. Yet in fact, people will still swim there. Testing is being done (to be concluded in November) but it is not known what kind of impact the testing will have on the Board when the results are presented.

At the moment this issue is not being discussed perhaps as it should be, either to prevent a misconception if there is one, or to prevent a ruckus from the local real estate community fearing a drop in property values. But the truth is, something must be done to address the very need for advisory notices. The waters around Sag Harbor must remain healthy.