Suffolk CO, NY; "Every Water Body Listed As Impaired; Dead Rivers, Closed Beaches, Algal Blooms"

[NNadir]

1. I grew up there. I know this problem very well. I remember, as a child, being able to harvest...

...bushels of steamers with my dad during a trip to the beach.

By the time I was ten, the beaches were closed for shellfish.

I have spent a lot of time thinking and reading about sewage - not necessarily a conversation one can have frequently in what is called "polite" conversation - and I think probably the reason is my experience with growing up on Long Island.

Another big problem on Long Island, which has been somewhat ameliorated in some places by liners - hardly a permanent solution - is landfills on Long Island.

I think growing up there made me think a lot about treating waste as a completely recyclable resource; something that has not gone far enough in my lifetime, regrettably.

The sandy soil of Long Island - it is a glacial moraine geologically - and the dependence on groundwater for its water supply makes for a disturbing mix. Nitrates and nitrites in drinking water are a very problematic exercise particularly for infants subject to methemoglobinemia .

They need to move away from "distributed" waste treatment to centralized waste treatment, but it will be very expensive to build this infrastructure and all efforts up to now have failed.