runoff affecting water quality

Here's something even worse to think about Chester;

The homes in most North Shore communities have cesspools. Since most of these communities are built high up in the hills, where do you think the liquid waste in those cesspools go as the hills naturally drain?

Most surf casters can tell you that if you visit the banks of any number of these communities during low tide you can see the oily discharge flowing out of the cliffs beneath the homes. This is especially so along the harbors and esturaries where the populations are much higher. After extreme rainfall, the oily sludge even smells like a cesspool.

Another note, if you hike along the portion of the Long Island Greenbelt trail in Kings Park there is a sewer plant just north of St. Johnland Rd behind the Nissequoge River State Park & the old Hospital grounds. During the winter, the plant is visible from the water. This sewer plant is STILL fully operational. It resides right on the banks of the Nissequoge river. There is a pipe that leaves the plant into the water. Does anyone know where the treated sludge from this plant is being discharged? Is it right into the river or a mile or two out into the Sound? W

Why does the trail smell of untreated waste right after a hard rainfall? How much of the plant's overflow is finding its way into the river? The Nissequoge is now protected under the NYS Scenic & Recreational River Act. Doesn't that act prohibit such a plant from continuing to operate? What political strings were pulled to overlook this extreme danger to the environment.

Now I've given you some real material to write about.

Good luck!

Sorry Wader but you are wrong. I rarely write about something unless I am fairly certain I know what I am talking about.

I wanted to follow-up on what you wrote so I took a ride down there. The gates were open so I drove through. When I approached the plant, not only was it open, but a sewer truck was pumping its load into the plant. A County worker approached me and asked what I was doing there. I told him I took a wrong turn. I asked him what the place was and he stated that it was a sewer treatment plant. I asked if it was active and he said of course it is. I asked how long and he said "Forever"!!

I saw GIANT pools of waste and some large buildings with humming sounds inside that sound like pumps. When I was leaving I saw a couple jogging on St. Johnland and I asked them if they knew anything about the plant. They stated that the plant receives deliveries two or three times a day!

Take a ride down there and you will see. If the gates are locked, go to where they are doing the construction on St Johnland by the pond and hike North along the Greenbelt trail that begins right at the construction (just South of the historic home). As you go into the woods, there is a hill on your left. Climb up the hill and you will get a good look at the sewer plant and the pipes that leave it. You will hear and smell the plant before you see it. Also, the signs all say "Suffolk County Property" It is fenced in and not part of the State Hopsital Grounds.

I then did a little research on the web and found this website that highlights how this facility in Kings Park pumps 2 MILLION GALLONS PER DAY into the water!!!

Long Island Sound Sewer Plants

So I ask again, where do the pipes go? Who inspects the pipes for leaks? How much untrated waste is overflowing into the river every time we have a heavy rainfall????

If Wader lives in the neighborhood for 15 years and he remembers that the plant pumped waste right into the river, who is to say that The County didn't continue the operation without our knowledge?

Wader, please go take a look and tell us what you think. It sounds like you know the area better than anyone here so you can help find out where the 2 million gallons is going each day!