Vote yes on Proposition Two: Funding for modern septic systems is essential in Suffolk

We are our own worst enemy. That’s true in so many ways, but nowhere is it more obvious than in how we deal with the by-products of our bodies’ own biological processes. 

Yes, we’re talking poop. 

We all manufacture it, typically on a daily basis. An average adult produces about 320 pounds of poop every year. 

Most people, in the words of Riverhead Town’s Sewer District Superintendent Michael Reichel, just want to “flush it and forget it.”

While that may be convenient in the moment, it’s not a long-term plan. And we are living with the consequences of our short-sightedness. 

On this barrier island we call home, we rely on an underground aquifer for clean drinking water and are surrounded by waterways that are increasingly burdened by the impacts of our “flush it and forget it” mentality. Algal blooms.  Waterways closed to shellfishing. Beaches closed to swimming. 

Some 360,000 homes in Suffolk County — 70% of all homes — and more than 11,000 commercial properties are not connected to sewage treatment plants. Human wastes are collected in underground septic tanks, where they sit and decompose and filter out into the ground in which the tanks are buried.

That may have seemed like a good idea 50 years ago, but now we know better.  The hundreds of pounds of poop handled in this manner in the hundreds of thousands of homes that rely on those outdated septic systems contain stuff that doesn’t belong in our drinking water — which sits below those septic systems. Some of it gets filtered out by our sandy soils and microbes that live in the soil. But some of it enters the groundwater. And, since the groundwater eventually flows into bays, creeks and rivers that surround our homes, the stuff from our septic systems ends up in those waterways, too.

A major component of the wastes that find their way into the groundwater and local waterways is nitrogen, an organic element produced by our bodies processing the proteins we eat.  It’s not a toxic chemical — though toxic chemicals end up in that underground septic tank too — but too much of it upsets the natural balance of things. So there are rules about how much nitrogen is acceptable in our drinking water. And we can see with our own eyes the results of too much nitrogen in our waterways. Nitrogen is a nutrient that algae feed on and excess nitrogen results in algal blooms that can deplete oxygen levels in waterways, kill marine life, threaten human health, and otherwise devastate the marine ecosystem.

In an effort to address this problem, Suffolk County in 2021 began requiring a new type of septic system designed to remove nitrogen from wastewater for new construction and major renovations on properties in unsewered areas. But the cost of purchasing and installing the new type of system — upwards of $30,000 for a residential system — has slowed the transition to the new technology.

Ballot Proposition Two will authorize a one-eighth of a cent county sales tax for a water quality restoration fund that will provide funding for homeowners to have the new septic systems installed. Half the fund will be allocated to the new septic systems and the other half will be allocated to providing upgraded sewage treatment to county-owned sewage treatment systems.

The 1/8-cent sales tax increase will generate an estimated $3.1 billion in revenue from 2024 through 2060.

Separately, Proposition Two also authorizes the extension of the county’s Drinking Water Protection Program through 2060, which will generate an estimated $1.9 billion for open space acquisition. The Drinking Water Protection Program is funded by a quarter-percent sales tax, which was first approved by Suffolk voters in 1987. The Drinking Water Protection Program is currently set to expire in 2030.

If Proposition Two is approved, the county sales tax will increase from 4.25% to 4.375%. The county sales tax is one portion of the total sales tax paid by consumers at the register. New York State sales tax is 4% and the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District surcharge is 0.375%. The sum of state, county and MTA surcharge sales taxes would increase from 8.625% to 8.75%. 

Legislation authorizing the Water Quality Restoration Fund and the sales tax increase to raise revenue for it was enacted by the state, thanks to the efforts of Assembly Member Fred Thiele, State Senator Anthony Palumbo and county officials in two administrations.

Now it’s up to the voters to make it happen. We believe the choice is clear.

The Water Quality Restoration Fund is one of the most important environmental protection measures ever to come before Suffolk voters. We urge you to support it. Vote yes on Proposition Two.

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