Sand mining threatens Long Island’s drinking water. Or is it?

The Sand Land mine near Southhampton, NY, resembles the cratered surface of the moon, a treeless, fractured work site that underlines the demand for a vital, if often overlooked, natural resource.

Sand is crucial for construction; it is used for the production of concrete, asphalt and glass. And for more than a century, the sands of Long Island have helped build New York City’s skyline.

But beneath the mine lies another valuable asset: an aquifer system that provides the only source of drinking water on Long Island. The country is facing a groundwater crisis, and Long Island also has a history of ignoring threats to its water until it becomes an emergency.

To prevent this history from being magnified, environmentalists and local government officials want Sand Land closed. The mining operation, they say, is cutting an open wound in the ground that could eventually erode the water below.

But sand mining has not damaged the region’s underground water supply, industry figures argue, while government regulators add there is no reliable evidence of negative effects.

“There has never been a mine, whether it’s a hard rock mine in upstate New York or a sand and gravel mine on the island, that has had any serious impact on groundwater in any way,” said John Tintle, the owner of Sand Land.

In addition, the sand mining industry employs about 175 workers — from laborers and machine operators to executives — who collect more than $75 million in salaries on Long Island, said Marc Herbst, the sand mining industry’s executive director. Association of Contractors of Long Island.

The tension in Southhampton, which has been preceded by more than a decade of legal battles, reflects the broader clash that has been unfolding worldwide between efforts to conserve natural resources and efforts to promote industry.

“This is one of a growing number of cases in which there are difficult tradeoffs between legitimate environmental interests and important economic considerations,” said Michael Gerrard, a professor of environmental law at Columbia Law School.

The Legacy of Long Island Sand

Between 1865 and 1930, 100 million tons of sand arrived in Manhattan by ship from Long Island to build the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center and other city landmarks. However, as towns and suburbs emerged on Long Island, the sand mining industry shrank and moved east. Today there are 22 active sand mines on Long Island; down from over 70 during the sector’s heyday.

Sand mining is banned in Southampton, a community of about 70,000 in Suffolk County on Long Island. But Zandland, which has been in use since the 1960s, was included in the area’s zoning plans in the 1970s.

Around this time, dangerous toxins unrelated to sand mining were discovered in public wells on the island, prompting a series of laws to protect the water over the next thirty years. In 1991, one of these laws, unique to the regionordered the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to seek permission from municipalities before issuing or modifying sand mining permits.

While Sand Land has tried to make changes to its operations over the years, this additional step has led to some two decades of litigation between Southampton, which has the backing of an influential environmental coalition that includes local lawmakers and nonprofits belong, and Mr. Tintle.

The last major ruling came in February, when New York’s highest court annulled permits, including expansion requests that the Department of Environmental Conservation had made to the mine without seeking city approval. Sand Land was ordered to stop mining.

But since then, more than 2,500 trucks, carrying an estimated 100 million pounds of sand, have left the mine, according to legal documents. Sand Land claims it removes, not excavates, stored material.

The department, which is charged with both supporting the mining industry and regulating it, has allowed the activity and deemed it legal, despite the objections of the city and the environmental coalition.

“DEC does not take one side over the other when it comes to groundwater versus mining,” said Sean Mahar, the department’s executive deputy commissioner.

And even as Sand Land’s opponents insist that any operation at the mine violates court orders, the company has doubled its profits. In October, Sand Land applied for permission to dig another 11 to 12 of the estate’s 50 hectares.

“This is just the latest example of Sand Land Corporation’s total disregard for the environment and the rule of law,” said Brian J. Sexton, an attorney representing the coalition.

The DEC forwarded the mine’s request to the city. But whatever the city decides, the request appears destined to end up in court.

“This site has a very long mining future ahead of it,” Mr Tintle said.

Underground, a vulnerable water source

Long Islanders live and work on top of their drinking water. So threats to that come in several forms, including septic waste (most homes in Suffolk County are not connected to a public sewer system) and poisonous plumesThese are bodies of contaminated underground water that may result from ancient military experiments, industrial spills and landfills.

For much of the 20th century, Long Island companies were “careless and sloppy in their handling of chemicals and their disposal,” says Sarah Meyland, a groundwater expert who recently led the Center for Water Management at the New York Institute of Technology.

Now many Long Islanders are deal with the results of those old industrial practices: dangerous man-made chemicals – unrelated to sand mining – in their aquifers that studies have linked to a range of serious health risks.

Sand Land is located above a special groundwater protection area, one of nine on Long Island. Water experts consider these zones to be the last line of defense for the island’s aquifers. Sand serves as an important filter, so digging it out removes a protective barrier.

Ron Paulsen, a hydrogeologist who led the Suffolk County Department of Health Services’ groundwater research unit, likened sand pits above aquifers to open wounds.

“Pollutants can get into your blood supply because there’s no skin there,” he said. “This is concerning because this was supposed to be an impeccable water supply.”

In 2015, Mr. Paulsen, who is now a consultant, oversaw a groundwater test at Sand Land for Suffolk County. The concern at the time was the continued storage of vegetative waste such as mulch and manure in the mine.

The study concluded that the processing of vegetative waste on Zandland posed a threat to groundwater. Among other pollutants, it had elevated levels of nitrate, which comes from fertilizers and manure. Exposure to nitrate in drinking water has been associated with an increased risk of infant mortality in some studies, and at high levels with an increased risk of cancer in adults.

After the publication of the study and several court hearings, Sand Land was forced to stop storing vegetative waste. Mr Tintle said the decision was voluntary.

The DEC is currently conducting its own three-year investigation into this subject the effects of sand extraction on groundwater in the area. But Ms Meyland said it lacked precision, partly because participation in the study is voluntary. Of the 22 active mines in the region, only four are participating (Sand Land is not one of them).

In a statement, the DEC called its investigation extensive.

The global demand for sand has approx 50 billion tons per year, according to the United Nations, which also predicted this water scarcity will be a major challenge in the 21st century. In parts of the world there is a need for both resources reach crisis levelsthe organization said.

This level of urgency could reach Long Island, which continues to face difficult tradeoffs, several water experts said.

“It’s not that there isn’t a place for mining,” Mr Paulsen said. “It’s where and how you do it.”