A groundbreaking ceremony has been scheduled to celebrate the start of the Birches sewage remediation project.  The ceremony will take place at the site of the proposed pump station on Melody Rd. on Thursday April 16th at 10:30 AM.

After decades of raw sewage continuously flowing into the bay, and entire generations of kids being told they were not allowed to swim because the water was too dirty, it looks as if we are finally going to fix the problem.  Don’t get me wrong, the Birches is certainly not the only threat to water quality in Mill Neck Bay or the rest of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor estuary, but it is certainly the most glaring example of long term neglect.  And we cannot solely blame the many elected officials who, over the years, allowed this to continue on their watch.  We also allowed it for all those years without taking action and demanding that it be addressed.

When we did finally make the demand, it was addressed.  Many of you played a crucial part in that and should be proud of your role.  There is no question that the letters generated in this forum were the catalyst.  In politics, one letter is a nuisance, 3 or 4 is a concern, 10 is a mandate and 50 is a potential threat to political survival. 

When Kyle Rabin, the former Executive Director of Friends of the Bay, and I first discussed how we could finally make this happen, we knew that we would need to have the public very involved.  At about this same time, Jeff was talking to me about his idea for the Bayville Blog.  In the end, the timing of these two events was the watershed event (no pun intended) that made this happen.

We also need to thank the elected officials who made this happen.   In Nassau County, Diane Yatauro, who heard the call early, Tom Souzzi,  and the Nassau County Legislature, and in the Town of Oyster Bay, John Venditto and the Town Board.  In the end, it was these elected officials who came up with the idea of transporting the waste to the Glen Cove treatment plant, an idea that, I must admit, I was more than a little skeptical of.  Making this happen was no easy feat and it completely removes this waste stream from the bay – the best possible outcome.

Those of you who can possibly make it to the groundbreaking ceremony should do so.  Like the letters, a good showing will let our elected officials know that we are paying attention.  Paying attention is something we all need to do if we want to be ready for the next issue – I’m relatively sure one will be rearing it’s head in the next few weeks.

Barry E. Lamb
Bayville