Establishes the Long Island water pollution control act

BILL NUMBER:S5956

Title of bill

An act to establish the "Long Island water pollution control act"; and to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to establishing the Long Island water quality commission

Purpose

To improve water quality on Long Island.

Summary of provisions

This bill would

*Establish a Long Island Water Quality commission to consist of eleven members;

*Require the Department of Environmental (DEC) to establish a Long Island Clean Water Quality and Protection Plan to include:

o A comprehensive groundwater and surface water quality assessment and a restoration and pollution reduction plan;

o Designation of specific areas suitable and appropriate for public acquisition;

o Designation of high priority water quality areas for which further degradation shall not be permitted;

o Recommendations and compliance requirements to ensure the implementation of the plan by local governments;

o A local participation plan and,

o A financial assessment estimating costs and potential funding sources

*Establish a timetable for the implementation of the Plan components;

*Establish the process for local implementation of the Plan and commission review;

*Require DEC to prepare a "State of the Aquifer" report; and,

*Require DEC to establish an ambient groundwater standard of no more than two milligrams per liter of nitrogen where groundwater enters surface waters and to establish additional groundwater quality targets for a range of water quality indicators including total dissolved oxygen, turbidity and temperature.

Justification

Long Island's water resources are unique in the region - with a federal sole-source aquifer designation, nine special groundwater protection areas and three estuary-based watershed planning efforts; however, despite these efforts, Long Island's water resources have continued to be impacted negatively by a variety of contaminants and an increasing number of harmful algal blooms. Continued water quality and coastal habitat decline will result in shell fishing closures, beach closures and fishing restricts, along with further contamination of private and public wells. This bill will

establish a Long Island Water Quality Commission that is responsible for the development, adoption, implementation and long-term oversight of a Long Island Clean Water Quality Protection Plan (LICWQPP). The plan will identify and evaluate priority threats to Long Island's (Nassau and Suffolk County) surface and ground waters, define specific actions and programs to improve water quality on Long Island and establish new pollution reduction standards and regulations for Long Island governing the disposal of human wastewater to significantly reduce the level of nitrogen entering ground and surface waters Implementation of the LICWQPP will require local and regional municipalities along with regional water quality management agencies to develop clean water action plans that must be approved and monitored by the Commission. The Commission shall regularly review local clean water action plans and local implementation procedures for consistency with the LICWQPP and the goals of each local plan. Should any local or regional municipality or water quality management agency fail to implement its local clean water action plan consistent with its approved requirements, the Commission may rescind any local clean water action plan and cause the NYSDEC to implement the local plan until such time as the local authority can return to compliance with its duly adopted water quality action plan The Commission shall also conduct a regular assessment of water quality on Long Island and produce a State of the Aquifer report to provide water quality data, guidance, needs and assessments and a long-term tracking mechanism to measure the impact of the LICWQPP over time.

Legislative history

New bill

Fiscal implications

None to the State

Effective date

Immediately.