Saving the Sound

About this time of year, Long Islanders rediscover the watery world that surrounds them. Families return to the beaches; fishermen cast into the surf, and sailors unfurl their jibs.

What they are finding is a cleaner and healthier Long Island Sound, thanks to recent efforts to reverse the effects of decades of pollution.

Much progress has been achieved by citizen action, such as volunteer efforts to restore wetlands in Port Washington, as part of the village's recent Harborfest celebration. State and federal governments have mounted coordinated efforts. through the Long Island Sound Study. So far, Connecticut and New York have made progress by agreeing to limit nitrogen pollution in the Sound, produced mostly be sewage treatment plants. Nitrogen spurs algae growth, depleting the oxygen that is vital to marine life.

More progress is assured by New York's environmental bond issue , which will earmark $200 million largely to stem the flow of pollutant into the Sound. But where will the money be spent? And will New York and Connecticut agree to meet tough new targets to reduce nitrogen flows by close to 60 per cent during the next fifteen years, a debate to begin this summer.

So as you return to the waters, remember the battle to save the Sound has begun, but it hasn't been won.