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Village and County work on plan for Frederick Canal On most hot summer days, residents living on and near Frederick Canal in Babylon Village come under assault by the stench of decomposing eel grass that gets trapped in the canal behind their homes. And despite efforts by the Village of Babylon to remedy the situation and bring residents some relief, the problem persists. Now, a more permanent solution may be in sight as the county, through the office of S.C. Leg. Wayne Horsley, has authorized $85,000 for the study of a program to move the grass and keep it out of the canal. "We have had discussions before, and things just did not seem to come together, so I thought it was best to bring everyone to the same table to review the matter," said Horsley who called a meeting between Village and county officials last month. "We all have the same goal, which is to resolve the problem and serve the public, so it was just a matter of finding a way to do that." "The Village has done a yeoman's job in trying to handle this problem, doing what they can to resolve it" said Vito Minei of the Suffolk County Health Department who attended the meeting. "But next up, the county has to look at it and come up with a more effective solution." One approach is to dredge the canal, which has become almost unnavigable, to allow the flow of water in and out, providing an adequate filtering system that would reduce build up. Before proceeding, however, the county must address several issues, including how far and how deep they can go into the canal without undermining the integrity of the existing bulkhead, and how to dispose of the waste that is removed. The County sent out a request for proposals and received five responses for a range of approaches including not only dredging but also in depth and highly technical aeration, circulation and skimming systems. The county has not made a decision on which company to accept, but has determined that the study be conducted between now and August of 2007, according Horsley. The remediation work itself would be scheduled for fall of 2007. "This is absolutely a quality of life issue," said Horsley. "When people lose the use of their back yard because of odors, that is something that has to be addressed." That came a good news to residents as well as Village officials who have initiated their own inhouse program for pulling the grass out of the canal during the summer months. "Dredging will help but it is not a permanent solution," said Frank Curtin, a resident. "What needs to be addressed are the mistakes made over the years by the Village going back to the 1970s when they installed bulkheading all around the Village pool area. If they would remove about 20 to 30 feet of that bulkheading near the parking lot and allow the grass to collect there, we would be better off." "We're very pleased that the County is getting involved but this is going to be a difficult project and it is going to be costly," said Babylon Village Mayor Ralph Scordino. "We may find out in the end that the best thing is to do what we are doing now and maybe the County can come up with some money to help offset the cost of this work." Over the past several years, the Village has uti- lized a boom or rake designed and constructed in-house by Superintendent of Public Works Skip Gardner and Charlie Klopher. Attached to a boat that the Village rents for $400 a week, it caught the eel grass and moved it out of the canal during the hot summer months. Initially, the grass was stored at the end of the canal, allowed to dry and then transported to the Town of Babylon's incinerator. Last year, however, the state required that the Village store the grass in sealed containers before shipping it out. While that reduced its exposure to the air, it also allowed the grass to hold moisture, which made burning it at the incinerator less efficient. The Village estimates that it cost approximately $6,000 a year to operate the program.
Health officials said they expect that the material at the bottom of the canal would contain metals and be considered as a hazardous waste. If a plan is adopted to remove it, any contractor hired by the county will be required to test the sediment, determine what is in it, how it should be handled and where it can be disposed.
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