Wealthy New Yorkers Fled To The Hamptons In 2020; This Pushed Aging Septic Systems Into Collapse

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Today, the Hamptons are known as a playground for the rich and famous – but the region has had a sewage problem for decades. In the last year, the pandemic has pushed the region’s ageing sanitation infrastructure to a breaking point. The strain on the Hamptons’ resources has been exacerbated following the exodus of wealthy New Yorkers to their second homes in the area – dubbed “Black Friday” by locals. The result has been a stunning amount of backups and spills, and the potential for long-term environmental damage as excess nitrogen – which leaches out more easily with older septic systems – seeps into the surrounding waterways and an underground aquifer that is used for drinking water. “When people moved out here, they brought the entire family out here,” said Skip Norsic, who owns a third-generation trash removal and septic company.

Three times in the last year, Norsic says he’s been called to emergency backups, including one in which a homeowner noticed a sinkhole forming in their driveway, where part of the house’s septic system had collapsed. In the village business district, the situation is even worse. Norsic recalls one late-night call to a restaurant whose septic system was overflowing into the parking lot. “The last thing you want to have is the smell of sewage in a restaurant where you are trying to eat your meal,” said the former Southampton mayor Mark Epley, who oversaw the village’s efforts in 2013 to create a centralized sewer system.

Although the Hamptons – which encompasses Southampton and East Hampton Town – are known as vacation spot for affluent New Yorkers, these towns have also been home to farmers and fishers, as well as Indigenous tribes like the Shinnecock, for generations. But the fact that the village of Southampton never built a centralized sanitation system affects year-round residents and second-homers alike. Local officials estimate that Suffolk county – where Southampton is located – has more unsewered residences than any other similarly suburban county in the US.

Problems stem from the fact that a majority of homes in the surrounding watershed rely on antiquated septic technology. Nearly 75% of homes in Suffolk county rely on older septic systems that involve a cesspool a container in the ground which holds waste from the house. Cesspools are often made of brick or cast concrete, and can easily leach into the surrounding areas, making them an ecological ticking time-bomb. These older septic systems threaten the quality of groundwater long-term. And with the pandemic-related population surge (the leadership of Southampton projects that its year-round population grew from 60,000 to 80,000), continued use of these septic systems will only add more nitrogen into the surrounding waterways.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/25/new-york-hamptons-long-island-sewage-water