§ 78A-1. Findings and intent.

A. 

As supported by information and data in the 2015 Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan, the Town of Brookhaven (Town) hereby finds and determines that the impact of Superstorm Sandy underscored the already well-known importance of Long Island's water resources, the fragility of its water supplies, and the vulnerability of the wetlands which serve as the last line of Long Island's natural defense against storm surge.

B. 

The Town further finds and determines that nitrogen contamination poses a real threat to both drinking water supplies and coastal marine habitat and resources because nitrogen-induced nutrient loading and eutrophication can lead to many negative impacts on estuarine environments, including harmful algal blooms, hypoxia (little oxygen) or anoxia (no oxygen).

C. 

The Town also finds that the adverse impact of nitrogen pollution is best exemplified by the 93% decline in the clam harvest in the Great South Bay, over the past 25 years, which resulted from recurring brown tides fed by nitrogen seepage from septic systems and cesspools. This decline, in turn, caused the destruction of an entire industry and the concomitant loss of approximately 6,000 jobs. (Note: 2015 Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan pg. ES-1.)

D. 

The Town also determines that the bay scallop fishery on eastern Long Island and the hard clam fishery in the south shore bays were two of the largest in the entire United States and that experts have concluded that the bay scallop collapse was almost entirely due to nitrogen-caused algal blooms while over-harvested hard clams have failed to recover largely due to recurrent brown tides. (Note: 2015 Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan pg. ES-1.)

E. 

The Town further finds that the vast majority of Suffolk County residents utilize on-site wastewater disposal systems that discharge into groundwater and approximately 350,000 sub-and non-performing septic/cesspools in Suffolk County account for more than 75% of the homes in the County. If septic systems are flooded or submerged in groundwater, they do not function as designed and they fail to properly and adequately treat pathogens. The excess nitrogen from the sewage then compromises valuable natural resources, coastal defenses, and human health. (Note: 2015 Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan pg. ES-4.)

F. 

The Town also determines that 68% of the total nitrogen entering the Great South Bay originated from wastewater, including wastewater from septic systems and sewage effluent discharges. (Note: 2015 Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan pg. 8-109.)

G. 

The Town further finds and determines that:

(1) 

Long Island's entire sixty-mile-long South Estuary Reserve was declared impaired by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) in 2008, with nitrogen from wastewater cited as a reason for the designation;

(2) 

According to the NYSDEC, there was an 18% to 36% loss of tidal wetlands in Suffolk County between 1974 and 2001;

(3) 

Wetlands have been proven to reduce vulnerability to storm surge by reducing wave heights by over 80% over short distances by reducing the energy of waves as they travel over vegetation; (Note: 2015 Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan pg. 7-25.)

(4) 

All three major estuaries in Suffolk County are suffering from dissolved oxygen impairments and recurring harmful algal blooms which diminish county wetlands, the second line of defense to storms; (Note: 2015 Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan pg. 8-29.)

(5) 

Excessive nitrogen has a direct effect on seagrass by promoting the growth of microalgae which shade it and macroalgae which out compete it; (Note: 2015 Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan pg. ES-17.)

(6) 

The New York State Seagrass Task Force estimates that the 200,000 acres of seagrass in Long Island bays and harbors have been diminished by nearly 90% since 1939, with only 22,000 acres remaining;

(7) 

NYSDEC has concluded that cesspools, septic systems, and sewage treatment plants cause eutrophication, resulting in lower oxygen levels and persistent algal blooms;

(8) 

Experts have identified the Forge River in Moriches, Brookhaven, as one of the worst cases of anoxia (absence of oxygen) known; (Note: 2015 Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan pg. ES-3.)

(9) 

Although 87% of all community supply wells in Suffolk County had nitrogen concentrations less than or equal to 6 mg/L, between 1987 and 2005, there were large increases of nitrogen concentrations in all of Suffolk County's groundwater aquifers. Nitrogen concentrations in the Upper Glacial aquifer rose by 40%, and levels in the Magothy aquifer rose by 70%; and

(10) 

Parts of Suffolk County's groundwater exceed maximum contaminant levels, caused by unsewered, substandard sized lots, especially in Huntington, Smithtown, and northern Brookhaven, with nitrate levels ranging from 8 mg/L to 12mg/L in certain Magothy wells in Northport and East Northport.

H. 

The Town acknowledges that restrictions on nitrogen contamination via cesspools and sanitary systems cannot solve the entire problem of contamination of Brookhaven's water supplies, natural habitat, and water resources but must, instead, be viewed as an incremental component of a larger and more comprehensive plan to reverse this contamination.

I. 

Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to begin an incremental rollback of the discharge of nitrogen from sanitary waste into the ground by enacting more stringent standards for sanitary systems installed on residential properties for the construction of a new dwelling or structure, or construction that fully replaces demolished existing structures, located within 500 feet of a body of water, by requiring a sanitary system nitrogen standard averaging no greater than 19 mg/L, beginning January 1, 2017.