Eastern Long Island

Blue Water Task Force Update June 2015

Written by easternli | Jun 5, 2015 3:08:07 PM
Surfrider Foundation's volunteer water quality monitoring program update:
Entering into its third year, the Concerned Citizens of Montauk (CCOM) in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation’s nationwide Blue Water Task Force water quality testing program, has been sampling Montauk and Amagansett water bodies for the bacteria enterococcus.  Weekly, highly trained volunteers collect and test water samples from Ditch Plains, Lake Montauk and Fort Pond in Montauk and Fresh Pond in Amagansett then post the test results online on Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force portal.  
During 2014, volunteers from 30 Blue Water Task Force labs processed more than 4,000 marine and fresh water samples collected from nearly 300 distinct sampling sites located across the country.  The CCOM / Eastern Long Island Chapter joint Blue Water Task Force program processed 329 water tests in 2014 placing in the top three most prolific BWTF labs in 2014 - impressive results considering 2014 was only CCOM’s second year in the program.   The Montauk-based lab also placed in the top 5 for recording a high bacteria rate of 22%, in other words 22% of all the samples collected failed to meet the health standard of <104 enterococci bacteria per 100 milliliters for a single sample. 
To review the complete 2014 report for all participating BWTF labs, please visit:   http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/2014-bwtf-annual-report
Please see below for water quality testing results for week of June 1, 2015:
LOCATION
ENTERO LEVEL
INDICATION OF
MONTAUK
Ditch Plains: Ditch Witch
0
Low Bacteria
Ditch Plains: Trailer Outfall Pipe
172
High Bacteria
Lake Montauk: Causeway South
10
Low Bacteria
Lake Montauk: Coons Foot Cove
0
Low Bacteria
Lake Montauk: East Creek
862
High Bacteria
Lake Montauk: Little Reed Pond Creek
121
High Bacteria
Lake Montauk: South Beach
108
High Bacteria
Lake Montauk: West Creek
4106
High Bacteria
Surfside Place Creek
7270
High Bacteria
Surfside Place Ocean Beach
0
Low Bacteria
Fort Pond: Industrial
10
Low Bacteria
Fort Pond: Ramp           
10
Low Bacteria
AMAGASETT
Fresh Pond: Creek
305
High Bacteria

Source: BLUE WATER TASK FORCE | Surfrider Foundation