New York has agree’d to close all of it’s remaining illegal cesspools that are located in our parks by 2019, 36 of which exists in Long Island Parks. A total of 14 years past a deadline was put in place by the federal government.
Newsday has reported that the state has incurred a total of $150,000’s in civil penalties from the Federal EPA for delaying the closing of cesspools, which has violated the Safe Driving Water Act of 1974.
“Public Parks and water pollution don’t go together”
– EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck
In order to close the Cesspools, the state will spend a little under $9 million dollars.
The cesspools have been leaking nitrogen into the groundwater, and has aided the spread of algae blooms that have been plaguing Long Island’s waterways. More than $1 million will be used to help mitigate the effects of the nitrogen and algae in at least seven Suffolk parks.