2021 Citizens Water Quality Testing Results (Weeks 11-20)

Week 17: September 10

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While it feels like we can't shake this rainy summer, only 0.28 inches of rain was measured in Central Park this week. Pretty mixed results across the harbor, but you may notice that main-channel sites with high amounts of current generally have better results than the tributary sites (i.e., Wallabout Channel or Anable Basin).

BOP's Week 17 sampling team: volunteer Austin Tucker, Assistant Waterfront Director Marc Melendez. Field Station Assistant Hana Isihara

WATERWAYS NEWS:

HARBOR EVENTS:

WEEKLY SLIDESHOW:

BOP volunteer Austin Tucker collects the Brooklyn Bridge Beach sample. The result: 63 colony forming units of fecal indicator bacteria, better than many places in the harbor (including some public bathing beaches).

BOP volunteer Austin Tucker collects the Brooklyn Bridge Beach sample. The result: 63 colony forming units of fecal indicator bacteria, better than many places in the harbor (including some public bathing beaches).

High tide at the Battery yesterday was at 10:29 AM, which made shoreline sampling this week a relative breeze! Jie Ma and Mika collecting at Grand Ferry Park.

High tide at the Battery yesterday was at 10:29 AM, which made shoreline sampling this week a relative breeze! Jie Ma and Mika collecting at Grand Ferry Park.

The Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park installed new 'eco-docks' at Bushwick Inlet last week. In addition to hosting a floating wetlands of spartina grass, each dock will support four Billion Oyster Project Oyster Research Stations--cages filled with juvenile oysters. FBIP and BOP are planning a public monitoring session on October 2, stay tuned for more details!

The Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park installed new 'eco-docks' at Bushwick Inlet last week. In addition to hosting a floating wetlands of spartina grass, each dock will support four Billion Oyster Project Oyster Research Stations--cages filled with juvenile oysters. FBIP and BOP are planning a public monitoring session on October 2, stay tuned for more details!

There was no sampling on the Raritan and Hackensack Rivers last week because most sites were underwater. Update from the Raritan yesterday: the water is still high and river banks are a mess, strewn with trash (photo of the Edison Boat Basin samplin…

There was no sampling on the Raritan and Hackensack Rivers last week because most sites were underwater. Update from the Raritan yesterday: the water is still high and river banks are a mess, strewn with trash (photo of the Edison Boat Basin sampling site by Michele Bakacs).

Upside of Ida? Five (count em!) fewer rats roaming the sewers.

Upside of Ida? Five (count em!) fewer rats roaming the sewers.

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Species ID Quiz

Some fishy friends are round, and some are flat. Who is this?

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Harbor Geography Quiz

Local version of the mid-Pacific gyre--but where?

Last Week’s Quiz Answers
Species ID: dead whale temporarily secured to floating dock (photo is from the next day, after the Army Corps towed the carcass to Staten Island; cause of death TBD)
Harbor Geography: Sebago Canoe Club gangway and dock, Paerdegat Basin, Jamaica Bay



Week 16: September 3

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Not everyone sampled yesterday, even though it was beautiful--many groups canceled their collection runs due to 'hazardous conditions.' The samples that were taken seem to confirm that judgment. It was a red-number day at all but two sites, both of those on ocean-facing beaches on Staten Island.

Grim tidelines: looking up and down on the East River yesterday morning, where a huge surge of stormwater and sewage from Newtown Creek pushed out into the harbor.

Grim tidelines: looking up and down on the East River yesterday morning, where a huge surge of stormwater and sewage from Newtown Creek pushed out into the harbor.

WATERWAYS NEWS:

WEEKLY SLIDESHOW

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Extreme commitment: Sean Lynch with Gowanus Canal and Valentino Pier samples.

Shonel Rahim sampling at Gerritsen Creek near the Salt Marsh Nature Center (John Ribaudo)

Shonel Rahim sampling at Gerritsen Creek near the Salt Marsh Nature Center (John Ribaudo)

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Steppin' out: Cody Hermann at an overflowing Meadow Lake.

The headwaters of Paerdegat Creek, aka Prospect Park Lake, also overflowed and ran down Parkside and Coney Island Aves (Eymund Diegel)

The headwaters of Paerdegat Creek, aka Prospect Park Lake, also overflowed and ran down Parkside and Coney Island Aves (Eymund Diegel)

More 'oogy' water at the Second Street kayak launch in Long Island City (Sanjay Shirke)

More 'oogy' water at the Second Street kayak launch in Long Island City (Sanjay Shirke)

Nevertheless life goes on (Flushing Bay)

Nevertheless life goes on (Flushing Bay)

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The long row: Tom Graves from Essex, New York passes under the Brooklyn Bridge, on his way from Lake Champlain to Philadelphia

New Oyster Habitat heading to Bushwick Inlet! More on this next week.

New Oyster Habitat heading to Bushwick Inlet! More on this next week.

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Species ID Quiz

On the right is a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) tied up at the floating dock on Pier 40. But what's that floating just to the left? (Ingo Gunther)

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Harbor Geography Quiz

whose dock, on what waterway?Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Last week's quiz answers:
Species ID: Atlantic silversides, aka spearing (Menidia menidia)
Harbor Geography: Triboro Bridge, Hell Gate Railroad Bridge, Astoria Generating Station



Week 15: August 27

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In honor of Hurricane Henri's visit last weekend, we decided to do some extra sampling at four of our East River sites, in order to get a better sense of 'recovery time'--that is, how long it takes for bacteria levels in the water to return to acceptable levels. You can see from the graph below (or this results table) how the sites improved from Monday, when it was still raining, to Thursday.

Au revoir Henri: Tuesday's sample at Brooklyn Bridge Beach.

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Last day on the job: Karina Garcia, Pace University biology major and intern extraordinaire, sampling at Brooklyn Bridge Beach.

Last day on the job: Karina Garcia, Pace University biology major and intern extraordinaire, sampling at Brooklyn Bridge Beach.

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Microplastics samplers have big jars: Beizhan Yan and Federico de Lima at Wallabout Channel.

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Wanna ship something up or down the Hudson in a carbon-neutral way? Check out the schooner Apollonia's sail freight operation.

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Wow, looks like a pretty good beach--too bad it's about to be buried under giant blocks of rip-rap (Graeme Birchall)

Please stay one sturgeon apart! (Dawn Marie Berry)

Please stay one sturgeon apart! (Dawn Marie Berry)

Hang time: blue crabs in Newtown Creek

Hang time: blue crabs in Newtown Creek

Needle, tracks: Brooklyn Bridge Beach

Needle, tracks: Brooklyn Bridge Beach

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Species ID Quiz

what fish?

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Harbor Geography Quiz

what two bridges and what power plant?



Week 14: August 20

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At first glance it looks like not much rain, so why the big bacteria numbers once again? Remember, we get our rainfall totals from the Central Park register, but precipitation varies throughout the city--and some places obviously got more. In any case, with Henri bearing down and hurricane season heating up, it's hard not to think we're going to see more rain this season, and thus continued high bacteria levels in the harbor.

What does dirty water look like in the lab? Here's a sample tray from Second Street on the Gowanus Canal with all but one well illuminated, signifying a very large 'most probable number' of 'colony-forming units' of fecal indicator bacteria per 100 ml of sample water.

WATERWAYS NEWS:

WEEKLY SLIDE SHOW:

Hackensack Riverkeeper intern Cassie Harper with sample from Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus (Hugh Carola)

Hackensack Riverkeeper intern Cassie Harper with sample from Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus (Hugh Carola)

Dawn Marie Berry at Pier 96: also a pretty clean spot this week

Dawn Marie Berry at Pier 96: also a pretty clean spot this week

Sanjay Shirke at Gantry State Park with one of the few clean samples taken this week

Sanjay Shirke at Gantry State Park with one of the few clean samples taken this week

Kent Ave in Williamsburg: the tip of the iceberg

Kent Ave in Williamsburg: the tip of the iceberg

Big steel can be beautiful...

Big steel can be beautiful...

Those dead bunker are back again, and the gulls are

Those dead bunker are back again, and the gulls are

Fiddler crabs are back in the Gowanus! (Owen Foote/Sean Lynch)

Fiddler crabs are back in the Gowanus! (Owen Foote/Sean Lynch)

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Species ID Quiz

it's a fish, yes, but what kind?

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Harbor Geography Quiz

Moolah King Baby Island: where is it?

Last week's quiz answers
Species ID: Twelve-scaled polychaete worm (Lepidonotus squamatus), and no it doesn't bite (humans anyway)
Harbor Geography: South tip of Roosevelt Island, where misguided park designers entombed the original bedrock in concrete and riprap



Week 13: August 13

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Another pre-apocalyptic week with intense rainstorms, dubious air quality, and an amazing wave of heat and humidity. August has arrived!

Frontal assault: looking south from Pier 40 on Tuesday evening (Ingo Gunther)

Waterway News of Notes

Get Involved

Weekly Slideshow

Karina Garcia sampling at Anable Basin in Long Island City.

Karina Garcia sampling at Anable Basin in Long Island City.

Temporary observation of a juvenile blackfish (Hana Isihara)

Temporary observation of a juvenile blackfish (Hana Isihara)

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That's West New York, NJ over there, across the Hudson from Pier 96--but where then is East New Jersey, NY? (Marcos Dinnerstein)

Soft landing: the beach on the Governors Island side of the Buttermilk Channel.

Soft landing: the beach on the Governors Island side of the Buttermilk Channel.

Appearances can be deceiving: Gowanus Canal sample that was pretty far (about 40x) over the limit for swimming (Sean Lynch)

Appearances can be deceiving: Gowanus Canal sample that was pretty far (about 40x) over the limit for swimming (Sean Lynch)

Murderers' Row: Meadow Lake, Flushing Creek and Flushing Bay samples (Cody Hermann)

Murderers' Row: Meadow Lake, Flushing Creek and Flushing Bay samples (Cody Hermann)

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Species ID Quiz

what is it and how hard does it bite?

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Harbor Geography Quiz

Bird hangout off the tip of what island?

Last week's quiz answers
Species ID: juvenille blackfish
Harbor Geography: Flushing Creek, Queens



Week 12: August 6

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There was almost no recorded precipitation in Central Park this week--only 0.4 inches last Sunday--so one might have expected our results to be mostly in the 'green' (in other words, meeting beach bathing standards). That didn't happen, probably for many reasons. In some places, there may be broken pipes or (illegal) dry-weather discharges, while in others the issue could be street cleaning, high winds stirring up sediment, or even excessive waterfowl populations. How to figure it out? More testing!

Finally feels like summer out there

Waterway News of Note

Weekend Events of Interest

Weekly Slide Show

More water science: Lamont Doherty Earth Institute's Beizhan Yan and Federico de Lima at Wallabout Channel with a passive sampler--a mesh box strung with microplastic beads that will be analyzed for the contaminants that attach to them.

More water science: Lamont Doherty Earth Institute's Beizhan Yan and Federico de Lima at Wallabout Channel with a passive sampler--a mesh box strung with microplastic beads that will be analyzed for the contaminants that attach to them.

Rachel Wu and Rebecca Pryor of the Guardians of Flushing Bay measuring dissolved oxygen levels (and a lot of other parameters) on Flushing Creek.

Rachel Wu and Rebecca Pryor of the Guardians of Flushing Bay measuring dissolved oxygen levels (and a lot of other parameters) on Flushing Creek.

Holly Fongblatt and Arturo Mendoza, intrepid Newtown Creek cyclosamplers!

Holly Fongblatt and Arturo Mendoza, intrepid Newtown Creek cyclosamplers!

Department of good ideas: "Filter sock" for sediment control during construction on Governors Island. It's stuffed with locally sourced hardwood compost.

Department of good ideas: "Filter sock" for sediment control during construction on Governors Island. It's stuffed with locally sourced hardwood compost.

Julia Holmes (who rowed the Erie Canal and the Mississippi) out on the East River for the first time

Julia Holmes (who rowed the Erie Canal and the Mississippi) out on the East River for the first time

"You can check out any time you like...but you can never leave"

"You can check out any time you like...but you can never leave"

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Species ID Quiz

What juvenille fish is this?

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Harbor Geography Quiz

what waterway?

Last week's quiz answers
Species ID: Wharf Roach (Ligia exotica)
Harbor Geography: Dyckman St. Beach, upper Manhattan



Week 11 : July 30

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Yesterday's rain brought the Central Park total for the month to 11.09 inches, making this the third wettest July on record after 1889 (11.89) and 1975 (11.77). So no surprise that this was another off week, with a few bright spots up north (SUNY Maritime) and down south (Raritan River, Jamaica Bay).

Bumper cars: New York Harbor School freshman orientation at the tunnel vent embayment on Governors Island

The Season So Far…

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Number of samples taken: 634
Percentage of tests failed (red): 48
Average rainfall per week (Central Park): 1.45 inches
Number of volunteers: 100+
Number of partnering programs and labs: 12

Waterway News of Note

Stewardship Opportunity

Weekly Slide Show

Most contaminated sample of the week: Coney Island Creek

Most contaminated sample of the week: Coney Island Creek

Bushwick Inlet update: Just about to hatch (Hana Isihara)

Bushwick Inlet update: Just about to hatch (Hana Isihara)

Team paddleboarding is a thing! (Hana Isihara)

Team paddleboarding is a thing! (Hana Isihara)

Back off!

Back off!

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Plastic upcycling: one of Duke Riley's murals at Governors Island ferry terminal

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Species ID Quiz

nut, bolt, washer and what?

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Harbor Geography Quiz

where is this beach?