-2023-
- The Leader 3/28/23
Friends of the Bay's Statement on Save the Sound's 2023 Long Island Sound Beach Report
Save the Sound released its 2023 Long Island Sound Beach Report providing the results of water quality sampling done by county agencies at about 200 beaches around Long Island Sound from 2020 to 2022. The grades were based on the frequency that water was identified as unsafe for swimming and how high the level of bacterial contamination was on the worst sampling day of the swimming season in dry and wet conditions.
The results for the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Estuary were mixed. While Centre Island (Sound Beach), Centre Island (Bay Beach), Stehli and Ransom Beach all scored A’s and A+’s, Beekman, Laurel Hollow and Theodore Roosevelt beaches all received C’s with Beekman receiving a C+.
Why are the bacteria numbers so high in these areas?
Part of the reason has to do with their location. There is little to moderate tidal flushing, which means water is not moving around as much and being replaced. In addition, stormwater runoff picks up fecal bacteria (from waste from pets, waterfowl and other animals) and other pathogens along its path. Because of this, beaches in Nassau County are routinely closed as a precaution after a quarter inch of rain in 24 hours.
The levels of bacteria tend to be related to the amount of rainfall and the timing of sampling following that rainfall. For those reasons, beach scores will vary from year to year.
One possible source of the contamination at Beekman Beach could be from waterfowl in Mill Pond as that pond discharges into Oyster Bay Harbor at the beach. The Town of Oyster Bay has applied for a grant to install floating wetlands by the stream from the pond to help mitigate the contaminants.
To read a copy of Save the Sound’s 2023 LIS Beach Report, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PUL6aR4wYp4pwyfoEcD9GPMaPXmaCqSV/view?usp=sharing
The results for the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Estuary were mixed. While Centre Island (Sound Beach), Centre Island (Bay Beach), Stehli and Ransom Beach all scored A’s and A+’s, Beekman, Laurel Hollow and Theodore Roosevelt beaches all received C’s with Beekman receiving a C+.
Why are the bacteria numbers so high in these areas?
Part of the reason has to do with their location. There is little to moderate tidal flushing, which means water is not moving around as much and being replaced. In addition, stormwater runoff picks up fecal bacteria (from waste from pets, waterfowl and other animals) and other pathogens along its path. Because of this, beaches in Nassau County are routinely closed as a precaution after a quarter inch of rain in 24 hours.
The levels of bacteria tend to be related to the amount of rainfall and the timing of sampling following that rainfall. For those reasons, beach scores will vary from year to year.
One possible source of the contamination at Beekman Beach could be from waterfowl in Mill Pond as that pond discharges into Oyster Bay Harbor at the beach. The Town of Oyster Bay has applied for a grant to install floating wetlands by the stream from the pond to help mitigate the contaminants.
To read a copy of Save the Sound’s 2023 LIS Beach Report, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PUL6aR4wYp4pwyfoEcD9GPMaPXmaCqSV/view?usp=sharing
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