Environment

Renewed Hempstead Bay Water Quality Monitoring Project strengthens bay water management

Operation SPLASH commended for its part in cleaner shores and waters

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An exciting partnership for monitoring water quality has formed between the Town of Hempstead and Hofstra University, with support from the Long Island Regional Planning Council and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The purpose of the partnership is to monitor a wide range of water quality parameters in the Hempstead Bay (that is, the South Shore Estuary Reserve Western Bays). The Town of Hempstead had conducted water quality monitoring 1968-2017, but closed its laboratory under budget pressures and the discovery of black mold in the lab building.

The Renewed Hempstead Bay Water Quality Monitoring Project will reestablish the data gathering to guide maintenance of Long Island’s marine health.

The project team for the Renewed Hempstead Bay Water Quality Monitoring Project includes Hofstra University’s Dr. Steve Raciti, associate professor of biology. In an email interview, he addressed the harm caused by marine debris.

“The direct ingestion of plastics by fish, birds, and sea turtles can lead to health problems, or death, when these materials accumulate in their digestive systems,” Raciti said. “These organisms, which are high on the food chain, may also accumulate plastics and other materials by consuming prey who have ingested these materials.”

Marine debris hurts more than animals in the ecosystem, Raciti said.  Humans can step on hypodermic needles from medical waste floating onto beaches. Swimmers may tangle in discarded nets or fishing line. Beaches and fisheries may shut down until debris is cleared.

“I strongly support efforts to prevent trash and other debris from entering our waters in the first place,” Raciti said. “And organizations such as Operation SPLASH should be applauded for their assistance in removing this debris once it has entered our coastal ecosystems.”

John Cameron, chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council (LIRPC), also commended the efforts of cleanup organizations like Operation SPLASH.

“I’m aware that they clean up a lot of the floatables that find their way into the marine waters that impact not only navigation, but the health of the wetland,” Cameron said. “The floatables that they remove can impact propellers, outboards, inboards, and cause damage to the hulls of marine vessels.”

Cameron grew up in Long Beach, swimming and fishing in Reynolds Channel. Water quality has improved since his boyhood, he said, owing to the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act by the U.S. Congress, with amendments in 1977.

But over time, nitrogen loading into coastal waters has changed the chemical balance critical to ecological health, which not only lowers the quality of marine life, but depresses Long Island businesses that rely on it.

The floatables flowing out the storm drains into the marine waters also add to the nitrogen overload. “Operaton SPLASH does a great job of removing a lot of those,” said Cameron, “and anti-littering programs help.”

The LIRPC has developed the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan to address the complex problem. “It’s money very well spent by the taxpayers to provide direct benefit to them,” Cameron said.