Southold law regulating sprinkler systems stalled

A law regulating irrigation systems in Southold Town was tabled for further public input and revision, with a vote set for 4:30 p.m. on July 22 by Southold Town Board after an hour-long and contentious public hearing Tuesday night. 

The proposed law would establish requirements for residential lawn, commercial lawn, turf and garden irrigation systems to conserve and manage the upper glacial aquifer, which is Southold Town’s sole drinking water source.

Roughly 70% of water pumped during peak demand hours in Southold is used for outdoor purposes such as landscape irrigation, according to the law. It states that up to 50% of that water is wasted through overwatering due to inefficient irrigation methods and systems. The law aims to combat this through overwatering reduction and mitigation of issues such as soil runoff.

Land used for agricultural production and agricultural operations or for nurseries and garden centers would be exempt from the proposed regulations.

Town Supervisor Al Krupski said the law’s purpose is to limit watering lawns when it is raining. “Lawn irrigation professionals said there could be a savings in the summertime of 15% to 25% of the water, just by not irrigating the lawns when it is raining,” Mr. Krupski said. 

The Water Advisory Committee worked to draft the proposed code for more than two years, committee member John Stype said. They met with the town board, Suffolk County Water Authority, Irrigation Association of New York, local sprinkler businesses and Riverhead Water District for input. Committee members also attended a meeting that discussed saltwater intrusion.

WAC chairwoman Kate Daly noted that while many Southold residents do make efforts to conserve water during rainstorms, the committee concluded that it’s “not enough to rely on individual behavior change.” She said a systems-level effort was deemed necessary by the WAC to address the issue. 

Highlights of the proposed law

The proposed law states that sprinkler heads must not irrigate any paved areas or areas that do not require irrigation.

Additionally, it says that smart controllers — which calculate soil moisture from known weather and related inputs such as solar radiation, wind speed, temperatures, relative humidity, rainfall and soil moisture — must be attached to all new automatic irrigation systems and set to prevent irrigation after a half-inch of rainfall. After a half-inch of rainfall, the system must not irrigate for two days.

Finally, the proposed law says that during extreme drought, the Town Board would be able to pass a resolution preventing irrigation of all properties, except those that are exempt. Violators of said resolution, if convicted, would face a fine of up to $1,000 for each day of violation.

Automated irrigation system requirements

The proposed law also outlines what all newly installed automated irrigation systems are required to have, as outlined below:

• Daily irrigation is prohibited.
• All new automated systems installed after the law’s effective date must be equipped with a smart controller and at least one rain sensor — a low voltage electrical or mechanical component placed in the circuitry of an automated irrigation system designed to restrict operation of a sprinkler when it rains.
• The smart controller and rain sensor must prevent the system from irrigating during rainfall or when soil moisture is sufficient to sustain plant life on the property.
• Any automated device installed must be properly installed, maintained and operated in accordance with manufacturer specifications.
• Contractors who install, upgrade or activate automatic landscape irrigation systems must provide written documentation to the property owner stating that the system complies with the law.

Violations and enforcement

Any contractor or property owner who violates the new law would be issued a fine of up to $1,000 for each violation upon conviction. For second or subsequent convictions within five years, the fine would rise to $2,500 per violation.

The building inspector, code enforcement officers, ordinance inspector or other official designated by the Southold Town Board would be responsible for enforcement.

Items on the chopping block

A stipulation in the original proposed law that even-numbered street addresses may irrigate on even-numbered dates and odd-numbered street addresses may irrigate on odd-numbered dates was recommended to be removed by the town’s code committee. 

Mr. Krupski said the inclusion would not necessarily reduce the amount of water used and would be difficult to enforce during the public hearing.

“You water as much on Monday as you can on Tuesday,” Mr. Krupski said. 

Another proposed requirement — which stipulated that contractors who service or install automatic irrigation systems would have to provide written documentation to the town stating that the system complies with the law — was also recommended for removal by the committee.

“The code committee felt it was important for the contractors to give the documentation upon installation to the owner, but not required to submit them to the town,” Mr. Krupski explained. 

Town Councilman Greg Doroski added that he would want to include clarifications in the bill that home gardens would be exempt from the bill’s regulations. 

“Just with the idea that more and more folks are growing their own food, and this is something we want to support,” Mr. Doroski said. 

“I think the clearer we can be that this is specifically targeted at residential lawn irrigation [with] automatic sprinklers, the better off we’ll be,” he added. 

Community comments

Orient resident Glynis Berry expressed her support for the original proposed law, but said there was more the town could do to support water consumption reduction, such as implementing restrictions on how much water can be used for lawn irrigation. Ms. Berry opposed the removal of the odd and even day watering schedule and written notice required by Southold Town included in the original proposed bill. She believed their deletion would weaken the bill.

Chris Martin, a Southold resident, asked that exemptions be included for anyone who is using a private well for their water supply. Ms. Berry disagreed with the idea, on the basis that everyone in the town is using the same aquifer in Southold. 

“The only exemption I could see is if you do something like Shelter Island, [which] has retaining tanks where they have water trucks come and fill it up, or you retain it from rain water. Then, you’re not drawing from the aquifer,” she said. 

Jenn Hartnagel, a member of Group for the East End, supported the proposed law and said it was in line with the town’s comprehensive plan goals to “conserve water quality” and “consider mandatory conservation measures for residential irrigation.”

Orient resident Tom Stevenson criticized the proposed law and said there isn’t a lack of water in Southold, but that the Suffolk County Water Authority’s current infrastructure can’t handle the influx of water usage in the summer. The United States Geological Survey is currently conducting a study on saltwater intrusion on Long Island’s East End, and most recently conducted a study at a well near Oysterponds Elementary School.

“This type of law is against how we have gotten by for hundreds of years without the long arm of government adding restrictions on dubious scientific grounds,” he said. 

If the law is passed, assistant town attorney Ben Johnson said there would be a three-year grace period following its enactment for homeowners and contractors who install, update or restart their automatic sprinkler system for the year to install a rain sensor or smart controller to their system. 

“One of our goals, which I think we’re achieving right now [at the public hearing], is through the process of even bringing this legislation to the table, we’re starting important conversations and also getting people to reflect on their own behavior and maybe making those changes,” Town Councilwoman Anne Smith said. “Not for fear of violating a code, but just learning what is important about this legislation and why it’s important we consider it.”