Mamaroneck REVIEW THE
August 31, 2018 | Vol. 6, Number 36 | www.mamaroneckreview.com
Save the Sound: Beaver Swamp Brook impaired
Music to my ears
By JAMES PERO Staff Writer
For the first time in more than a decade, Westchester Broadway Theatre will be showing “Phantom” beginning in September. For more, see page 6. Photo courtesy PhantomoftheOpera.com
Mamaroneck, Larchmont awarded for food waste program By JAMES PERO Staff Writer The village of Larchmont and town of Mamaroneck received special recognition from Westchester County earlier this month for environmental initiatives designed to prevent food waste.
The “Eco Award” was given to the two municipalities for their Food Waste Recycling Program which takes residents’ food waste and uses it for compost. The distinctions were presented by County Executive George Latimer, a Democrat, who said, “The Eco Awards provide an op-
portunity to recognize those individuals and institutions who contribute to making Westchester a great place to live, work and visit by improving and caring for our local environment.” Through the municipalities’ food recycling program—unlike home composting—just about
any food items are able to be recycled, including meat, fish, dairy, bones, shells, pasta, bread, rice, fats and oils. Already, the program, which was started in September 2017, has diverted thousands of tons of food waste PROGRAM continued on page 8
The environmental group Save the Sound has recommended that Beaver Swamp Brook—a tributary that runs through Harrison, Rye and Mamaroneck—be added to the state’s list of impaired water bodies. On Aug. 7, Save the Sound announced that it has submitted formal comments to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, DEC, recommending that Beaver Swamp Brook be added to the list of impaired waters due to consistent bacterial contamination. “Over four years of testing by our water quality team have confirmed that these sections of Beaver Swamp Brook consistently have elevated levels of fecal bacteria,” said Bill Lucey the Long Island Soundkeeper for Save the Sound. “The Brook clearly needs more attention to help restore it to a condition where it’s safe to swim in and fish from, as the Clean Water Act requires.” Waterways that are designated impaired by the DEC have increased priority and resources for remediation. The list—which is mandated by the federal Clean Water Act—is updated every two years. According to routine measurements of Beaver Swamp Brook’s bacterial levels, elevated levels of
fecal coliforms—harmful bacteria found in human and animal waste—have plagued areas of the waterway since the start of testing back in 2014. According to Save the Sound, some samplings of Beaver Swamp’s bacteria level exceed the threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency, by as much as 50 times the allowable amount of bacteria per sample. Earlier this month, Save the Sound analyst Elena Colon told the Review that in recent samples a Beaver Swamp site behind Rye Neck High School, showed levels of enterococcus that ranged from 700 to as high as 9,000 bacteria per sample. The safe swimming standard dictates that anything above 104 per sample is considered unsafe. The source of the contamination, according to a lawsuit filed by Save the Sound in 2015, is miles of neglected and porous sewer lines running throughout Westchester County that have been leeching raw sewage waste into tributaries and endangering human safety and wetlands across the county. Last year, 11 municipalities named in that lawsuit, have agreed to a court-ordered timeline for studying the extent of future repairs for sewer lines as part of a settlement, in what Save the Sound considers a BROOK continued on page 11