Suffolk County Environmental Assessment

By, Sean SetzenMentored By, Chris Hunter

http://team358.org/files/li_teams/

http://longislandsoundstudy.net/

http://archive.longislandpress.com/2009/11/04/results-suffolk-county-2009-election/

Location...

• Suffolk County covers the entire eastern half of the Long Island horn.

http://www.arrowexterminating.com/contact/area-served.aspx

Methods of Diagnosing a county...• Step 1: What is a county?

– A political and administrative division of a state that provides certain governmental services.

• Step 2: Research the county...– You can use the county’s website to learn about the county. Also, news articles and

different websites can be used to learn about your county.

• Step 3: What are the environmental health concerns of the county?– These are things like the water quality, air quality, and efficiency of soil.

• Step 4: Develop possible causes...– These could be things like industrial pollutants, toxic substances being leaked,

weather conditions, or even technological advances and drawbacks.

• Step 5: Formulate solutions...– Develop different possible solutions to the health concerns in the county.

Background of Suffolk County...

• History:– Original county in the Province on New York.– One of twelve to be created in 1683. – From 1664 until then, it had been known as the East Riding of

Yorkshire. – In 1899, Nassau County was split into Nassau County and

Suffolk County.• County Government:– Consists of many departments and agencies.– Has a County Council of Governments– Very focused on Civil Service, Parks and Health.

Steven Bellone; Suffolk County

Executivehttp://huntington.patch.com/

groups/politics-and-elections/p/bellone-save-our-water

Environmental Health Indicators:

• Why do we need them?

– Crucial to any county, village, state, city, town, or country.

– These factors simply tell you what is healthy about your location and what isn’t in

an effort to get you to fix the issue to make it so everything is considered healthy.

– Any major health indicators can also act as red flags to things that need to be

fixed with an area, settled or not.

– Indicators can be for various things and can really help people.

Environmental Indicators in Suffolk County

Air Quality:

The air quality in Suffolk County is

relatively clean. In 2012, they 0

unhealthy air days.

There should be more tests done in the

county to more closely monitor the air

though.

Climate Safe Communities:

Environmental Indicators in Suffolk County

Superfunds:

These are areas that are designated by the

EPA as hazardous or dangerous to human

health and set aside to be cleaned up and

decontaminated.

There are 19 Superfund sites in Suffolk

County, the oldest being superfunded in

1976.

Watershed:

In the Atlantic Ocean/ Long Island Sound

Watershed .

The water is quite polluted. Coming in

mostly from the Atlantic Ocean and the

Long Island Sound, there a lot of pollution

and toxic substances in the water. There is a

high concentration of Hypoxia as well,

which is very dangerous to the aquatic

ecosystems.

Environmental Indicators in Suffolk County

Envirothon Involvement:

Suffolk County is very involved in the annual

Envirothon. The high school in Suffolk

County get excited about it and are always

very competitive. This past year, the top

three teams in Suffolk County were,

Sachem North High School, Mount Sinai

High School, and Longwood High School.

Energy Use:

• Gas: 85.5%

• Renawable: 4%

• Oil: 6.9%

This is not very efficient as renewables are

the the most stable energy source and it is

used the least in Suffolk County. Gas and oil

have dangerous implications from their

harvesting methods and they are not

reliable sources for many years to come.

Lead Case Study...

• The point of this case study was to study the prevalence of Lead Poisoning in Suffolk County.

• It was used throughout the United States until the 1970’s, but it was then banned in 1978.

• It is often found in contractors supplies, mainly paint. Lead in paint is a huge concern as it can be very dangerous and potentially life-threatening.

• It can also be found in many children’s toys.http://www.hometeam.com/page.aspx?id=96&pid=1

Lead Poisoning in Suffolk County

• Tests done in Suffolk County from 2004-2007 recently concluded that

40.3% of children born in Suffolk County had lead poisoning at age 1.

• According to the Percent of Housing Units Built Before 1950 as of 2000,

16.3% of the housing in Suffolk County was built during a time when

lead based products were used most often.

• Based another statistic, the Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Children

Tested before Age 6 in 2004-2007, children who were aged 6 had only

0.2% rise in their blood level.

Soil/ Water Case Study...

• This case study was done to analyze the quality of the soil and the water in Suffolk County.

• Soil:– Relatively fertile and healthy– Varies by area within the county, but is stable throughout. – This is positive and evident as the county is a very

agricultural county. • Water:– Mostly from Long Island Sound or Atlantic Ocean.

Polluted from those sources.

Soil and Water in Suffolk County

• Concerns Include:

– Hypoxia: a reduced oxygen content of air or a body

of water detrimental to aerobic organisms.

– Leaking of pollutants from industrial factories.

– Sewage mixing in with the water systems.

Deer Cull Case Study...

• The case study was conducted to analyze how Suffolk County is taking care of their exponentially increasing deer population.

• Causing an increase in the tick population.• There are no current numbers on what the population of white-

tailed deer is in Suffolk County.• Legislatures have passed bills to allow the USDA to hand

outhunting licenses to quickly decrease the population.• Farmers are upset because the deer are consuming all their

crops.• Many people are in protest at the idea of peopleeasily receiving hunting licenses. http://

outdooralabama.com/watchable-wildlife/what/mammals/Ungulates/wtd.cfm

Implications...

• Suffolk County is doing a good job at working out some issues.• Have many programs to clean out the Long Island Sound.• There need to be more studies conducted in the county and

they need to be done more regularly.• The county should reconsider there tactics of their deer

culling as it is rapidly decreasing the deer population.• The things they are doing are positive and they should keep

up their efforts as they are making changes!• This though can only be held up if people are educated about

the topics of health risks and what to do to fix the issues and to improve the health of the county.

Bibliogrpahy• AirCompare Report. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.epa.gov/cgi-bin/broker?

condition=lung&citycounty=county&geocode=36031+36061+36083+36103&_debug=2&_service=aircomp&_program=dataprog.wcj_bymonthyearhealth.sas&submit=Compare+My+Air

• Atlantic Ocean/Long Island Sound Watershed - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2014, from http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/48375.html

• Childhood Lead Poisoning – Environmental Public Health Tracking. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2014, from https://apps.health.ny.gov/statistics/environmental/public_health_tracking/tracker/mapaction.map?activeTool=showLead&type=Poverty

• Guest Column: A legislator’s pitch for culling the deer population. (n.d.). Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://suffolktimes.timesreview.com/2014/01/44658/guest-column-a-legislators-pitch-for-culling-the-deer-population/

• Rockland County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2014, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36087.html

• Sara. (2013, December 8). Long Island Weather & Climate: Rain, Sleet or Snow? Wouldn’t You Just Love To Know?! Long Island Weather & Climate. Retrieved from http://longislandweatherandclimate.blogspot.com/2013/12/rain-sleet-or-snow-wouldnt-you-just.html

• SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser | California Soil Resource Lab. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/

• St. Lawrence County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2014, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36089.html

• Suffolk County Stormwater Management Program > Best Management Practices > Residents > Artificial Wetlands. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2014, from http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/stormwater/BestManagementPractices/Residents/ArtificialWetlands.aspx

• Suffolk County, NY Population and Races. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.usa.com/suffolk-county-ny-population-and-races.htm

• Water Quality « Long Island Sound Study. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://longislandsoundstudy.net/issues-actions/water-quality/