Residents press council on Lloyd Aquifer risks and recycling enforcement
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Summary
Residents urged the council to convene experts after an article warned of saltwater intrusion into the Lloyd Aquifer; another resident pressed the city to enforce its solid-waste plan and to apply for a NYS recycling grant covering 50% of coordinator costs.
Several residents used the public-comment portion of the meeting to press the council on environmental and solid-waste issues.
A resident identified as Ronnie flagged a recent article saying Long Beach could lose local water supply from the Lloyd Aquifer to saltwater intrusion. He urged the administration to bring in outside experts, seek DEC permits before drilling new wells and form a bipartisan water conservation committee to recommend policy changes. "This could be the biggest bipartisan political blunder in the history of Long Beach," he said, and asked the city to convene a special meeting that includes resident input.
Separately, resident Jacob Spielberg cited the city's 2023 transfer-station report and said the city sent about 18,500 tons of household waste to disposal in 2023. He told the council that if the current disposal rate of roughly $94.44 per ton applies, that would amount to about $1.75 million in disposal costs, and he urged the city to apply for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's municipal waste reduction and recycling grant (which would reimburse 50% of a recycling coordinator's salary and other program costs). "We are legally and contractually obligated to recycle cardboard and paper," he said, and asked whether the city was enforcing the local solid-waste plan's sticker program and refuse policies.
City staff said they would review the solid-waste plan and follow up with the sanitation inspector and the city's grant team on the DEC grant; they also said they meet and plan for each significant snow event and would examine water-supply and conservation options with staff and counsel as needed.
