New York Environmental Protection Fund Celebrates 25 Years
All politics may be local, but when it comes to protecting the drinking and surface waters around us; an “all-hands on deck” approach must be taken. For the State of New York, this participation primarily manifests itself in the New York Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. With such a milestone to commemorate, it’s a good idea to familiarize oneself with the history and significance of the EPF.
Initially passed by the New York State Legislature in 1993 for open space and water preservation, the EPF has gone on to be one of the largest funding sources for water protection throughout the state. Through its “Water Quality Improvement Program” alone, more than $80 million has been committed to water infrastructure projects and non-point source abatement projects.
For the region of Long Island, specifically, the Environmental Protection Fund provides funds that play a part in protecting the Long Island Sound, the Great South Bay and countless inland waterbodies, including the water underlying the Long Island Pine Barrens. Perhaps most important among these efforts is the program known as the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Program. The reserve program, which encompasses approximately 173 square miles of bays along the southern coastline of Long Island, has received more than $11 million from the EPF since 1993. In 2017 alone, more than $650,000 from the protection fund was committed to fund 16 projects within the region of the South Shore reserve, in addition to its annual funding. A large portion of these funds are dedicated to reducing non-point source pollution within the area’s waterbodies.
In 2018, the Environmental Protection Fund continues to be well-supported, with the 2018-2019 New York State Budget once again allocating a historic $300 million to the fund. For each of the past two years, Long Island alone has received more than $17 million for water quality protection, including $3 million for Suffolk County and Stony Brook University to develop advanced septic technologies that will reduce the levels of nitrogen pollution in Long Island’s waterbodies.
Twenty-five years later, it is safe to say that the State Environmental Protection Fund has been a leading presence in the statewide effort to safeguard New York’s environment for the future. For Long Island’s water quality, the Environmental Protection Fund represents one of the single greatest sources of support for preserving the resource that every Long Islander depends upon in some manner – water.
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