Letters To The Editor

Email: editor@ gcnews.com



Not Enough Water

To The Editor:

There have been many letters to you concerning the Lighthouse Project. Their writers expressed a variety of opinions concerning the Project. There is one aspect that I do not recall being discussed, that is, we don’t have enough water!

The Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) acknowledges that the pumpage caps developed by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) are already exceeded. This project will greatly increase the need for water. For example, the housing units alone will probably require 460,000 gallons of water per day.

This quantity was calculated by conservatively figuring that the population of the apartments averages two people per apartment. A figure derived by assuming:

• That there will be more affordable apartments than luxury apartments.

• That the luxury apartments will probably be occupied by empty nesters or surviving singles.

• That the affordable apartments will more likely to be occupied by young couples some of whom have children.

If there are two people per apartment, the apartments will have a population 4600 people. Community planners often assume that Americans with a public water supply typically use 100 gallons of water per capita day.

I have no idea how to estimate the water that will be used by the sports complex, the mall and the offices. Nor do I have any idea how much water will be required for maintenance or other necessary activities.

Where is this water to come from? All of Long Island’s water is pumped from deep aquifers. There is only a finite amount of available water and much of this water has to be treated to remove dangerous pollutants. Some of it is not amenable to treatment so existing wells have had to be closed.

Besides its water requirements there is another consideration, while the Project draws all this water, it will seal off the only part of the “Hempstead Plain” that still exists. This area now contributes rain water to the ground. This is a contribution that will be lost.

Long Island is not alone in this water problem. The following is a quote from an opinion piece in the Washington Post (8/23, Glennon) which put the nationwide problem in prospective:

“Robert Glennon, a professor of law at the University of Arizona, wrote that ‘we constantly fret about running out of oil. But we should be paying more attention to another limited natural resource: water, ‘as a water crisis is threatening many parts of the US. Droughts, said the professor, ‘make matter worsen but the real problem isn’t shrinking water levels. It’s population growth.’ Glennon also mentioned another problem, which “Comes in something that sounds relatively benign: biofuels, as ‘refining one gallon of ethanol requires four gallons of water.’ And while ‘pumping so much water from wells that the levels in aquifers are plummeting.’ We are ‘running out of technological fixes. Some dreamers gaze upon distant sources of water, such as towing icebergs from Alaska, and dream that the problem is solved, but they tend not to address the immense costs, significant environmental objections or regulatory nightmares. Glennon concluded that more viable solutions include desalination of ocean water, reuse of municipal waste and aggressive conservation strategies. But none of these is a cure-all, he said.”

J.D. Redding, Jr.

The Only Solution

To the Editor:

It is quite obvious that the public is annoyed and frustrated with our politicians effort to force down our throats a Universal Health Plan instead of attempting to reform or correct the abuses of the present system.

They, with their own health plan, retirement, travel, business expense and allowances, surely know what’s best for us.

We have seen our leaders pass a stimulus package, laced with pork, which many doubt is actually working, stick their noses in the banking, investment, insurance and automotive businesses, and in so doing have grossly enlarged our national debt and raised the federal employment to the point where we could be easily be reduced to a 3rd world nation or “Banana Republic.”

We have all seen how our veteran administration hospitals, Social Security, Medicare, post office and other federal agencies work. Their deficits and efficiencies speak for themselves.

Let’s have no more discussions. I do not want to be called un-American as our Speaker Of The House describes one who protests.

We must “Bite the bullet” – “Pull the lever” – VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE (no matter how long they have been in office). It’s the only way.

Frederick G. Garttner

Protests Fee Increase

To The Editor:

It has come to my attention through Wyndham’s community bulletin that the mayor and the village board of trustees of Garden City are proposing an amendment that would allow the village to charge additional fees for the removal of garbage from our multi-family dwelling condominium, in contrast to no additional fee to single-family homes in the village.

I protest that we at the Wyndham have employed compactors to better handle our garbage and pay garbage disposal personnel to assist in the sanitation collection process.

It is not fair and therefore we should not be burdened with additional fees since we financially assist in the collection of sanitation and single-family dwellings do not.

Thank you for your consideration and I hope the local law does not go into effect.

Dr. Bernard M. Klersfeld




Leave a Reply