Picturesque areas of the Hamptons risk becoming filled with “dead water” if residents don’t stop using harmful fertilizers to make their lawns greener, environmental groups say.
Those perfectly manicured, brilliantly green lawns that surround many Hamptons mansions are contributing to the destruction of marine life on Long Island, it is now being claimed.
Campaigners argue overuse of lawn and farm fertilizers and nearly 500,000 septic tanks in Nassau and Suffolk counties are leeching nitrogenous waste into ground water. Nitrogen feeds algal blooms blamed for devastating marine life.
Marshall Brown, from Save the Great South Bay, said, “Increasing pollution from sewage, pesticides and toxic chemicals, including lawn and farm fertilizer, threatens Long Island’s water. Aging sewer and septic systems leak nitrogen into our underground supply of fresh drinking water, which flows into our creeks, bays and harbors.
“The polluted groundwater is systematically killing all our bays, ponds and rivers by triggering massive algal blooms — brown tide, rust tide, red tide, blue-green algae — and wiping out marine and freshwater habitats, choking sea life, poisoning shellfish. The only thing left would be jellyfish.
“We have lost most of our marshes and eelgrass from this excess nitrogen, making areas of Long Island more vulnerable to flooding. If we do nothing, it is predicted that by 2030, marsh grass will be extinct. If we don’t want vast areas of dead water, if we want to have a Hamptons we want to visit in 20 or 30 years time, we need to take action. We want our children and grandchildren to have a chance to enjoy nature here as we have.” He added billions need to be spent on sewering, and residents and farmers must use eco-friendly lawn and agricultural fertilizers.
The environmental warnings are starting to attract the attention of the wealthy Hamptons set, and the issue will be discussed in an upcoming feature in DuJour magazine. In April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an initiative working with scientists and residents to review clean-water needs on Long Island.