Program Overview
Nitrogen Smart Communities (NSC) is a voluntary program administered by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)’s Long Island Watershed Program in conjunction with the Long Island Regional Planning Council (LIRPC). The voluntary program encourages municipalities in Nassau and Suffolk Counties to take meaningful, effective action to reduce, prevent, or eliminate nitrogen pollution in Long Island’s waters. To learn more about the program, view the Nitrogen Smart Communities Summary (PDF) summarizing the program.
Program Goals and Outcomes
The goal of the program is for communities to achieve a better understanding of their unique sources of nitrogen, and to implement nitrogen reduction activities associated with these priorities. By participating in the NSC program, a municipality can reduce nitrogen pollution to improve the water quality within their communities.
Participating municipalities will follow a series of steps and submit completed worksheets to earn tiered levels of NSC status certification: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. View the full program overview outlining the five steps (PDF) Step by step documents are linked below.
Have any questions or interested in participating in NSC? Please contact Rachel Titus at [email protected]
