Residents in ritzy Southampton are up in arms over an allegedly toxic local lake that’s keeping them from their pristine beaches.
Old Town, Gin and Cryder beaches were closed this week when pipes from polluted Lake Agawam were opened into the ocean.
Agawam is reportedly of the most polluted lakes in New York, surrounded by some of the state’s most expensive homes where residents have included Calvin Klein, billionaire David Koch and Tory Burch.
“It’s a s- -t show,” literally, one high-end resident told us, claiming the pollution issues stem from “old septic tanks and runoff with pesticides from everybody’s landscaping. They are about to open the floodgates of the most expensive s- -t in New York onto our beaches.”
Former Southampton mayor Jessie Warren posted on Instagram, accusing the town of pumping polluted water into the ocean: “The water potentially contains toxic algae and enterococcus bacteria, often found in fecal matter… Opening the drain pipe during Harmful Algae Bloom season (HABs) when the weather is unseasonably hot and dry is not a good practice and for years we avoided this.”
The Village of Southampton posted on Instagram to residents: “Due to heavy rains the beach pipe must be opened to lower water levels of Lake Agawam and Old Town Pond.”
Comments on the town’s post was been turned off, no doubt to curb complainers.
The Town has also sniped that Warren, mayor from ‘19 to ‘23, is “fear mongering.”
Warren also accused the town of not posting “ample signage” about the situation, and the town posted a pic of the closed beach “with appropriate signage to alert beachgoers that swimming is prohibited.”
A Town Superintendent did not return our call.
We hear that the drainage does take place, but that it is normally in cooler months, to curb the bloom of dangerous algae.
The Lake Agawam Conservancy’s site says, “Pollutants from roadways, lawn chemicals and impacts from old septic systems throughout our large watershed, which extends throughout all residences and businesses in Southampton Village, are killing this freshwater Lake, and causing harmful algal blooms to decimate the ecosystem [that] can cause serious health problems for people and our pets.”