CWQT Week 4--results

[Rob Buchanan]

Click here to view the results of yesterday's sampling.  

And heads up that a new version of the newsletter is coming soon, mabye even next week--the next step in our partnership, begun last year, with the Billion Oyster Project's burgeoning community science program. BTW, if you're interested in learning more about community science efforts in the harbor, consider attending BOP's first-ever community science forum next Thursday (details below). 

Waterways News Roundup:

Miami Hits the Wall (NY Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/us/miami-fl-seawall-hurricanes.html

Industry self-regulation, a case study (NY Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/world/europe/climate-change-un-international-maritime-organization.html

Events of interest:

Community oyster monitoring in Bushwick Inlet Park, tomorrow 1-2:30

BOP’s inaugural community science forum, aka 'the Scyposium,' Thursday June 10 from 4-6 pm; signup form here.

Weekly slide show:

New pathogens monitoring program launched on Staten Island! Students from Monsignor Farrell High School preparing to sample at Great Kills Beach. 

Hana Isihara carrying the sample cooler ashore at N. 3rd St  in Williamsburg

New site this week!  + POOL (the proposed in-river swimming pool) has received a notice to "proceed with due diligence" on the project in the waters north of the Manhattan Bridge in the Two Bridges Neighborhood.

Another new site! Pier 7 in Sheepshead Bay (photo: Lee Patrick)

Harbor geography quiz: name this place.

Coming soon to Williamsburg: a climate-change-themed mini-golf venue.

Middenmakers: BOP volunteer fabricators with a prop made for the aforementioned golf course.

Species ID quiz: what is it? Plant or animal?

Newtown Creek triptych: Algae bloom in Dutch Kills...

...East Branch sampling bucket getting jostled by passing truck traffic...

...English Kills looking sketchy. (photos: Willis Elkins)

Family outing at Sebago Canoe Club (photo: Laurie Bleich)

Phone photo of the week award (Eymund Diegel)

Last week's quiz answers: 

Species ID: sand collars are egg casings laid by female moon snails; they consist of a matrix of sand grains cemented together by a gelatinous slime, in which the eggs are embedded.

Harbor geography: the shoal known as Oyster Island, south of the Statue of LIberty, only emerges on very low tides. 

     

The Citizens Water Quality Testing Program (CWQT) is a collaboration between the New York City Water Trail Association, the Billion Oyster Project, and Hudson River Park's River Project, with support from Two Trees Management. Other partners this year include the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River, SUNY Maritime's Marine Environmental Science program, the Bronx River Alliance, Queens College, Newtown Creek Alliance, the Interstate Environmental Commission, and the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership.

For more information, to volunteer, or to unsubscribe, email us at water-...@nycwatertrail.org

--

Rob Buchanan

Education and Community Engagement

Billion Oyster Project

10 South Street, Governors Island

New York, NY 10004

917 656 7285

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[Rob Buchanan]

Click here to view the results of yesterday's sampling. The worst week so far this season, with surprisingly high numbers in places that are usually ok--especially on the Hudson side.

Watching the annular eclipse at the Salt Marsh Nature Center in Marine Park (photo: Hanish Khodali)

Waterways News Roundup:

High-speed ferry crash lands in Brooklyn

EJ Alert: What happens when NJ Superfund sites flood?

Those nasty HABs are back, and this cool map from NJ DEP shows you where

Need to get out of the house? Check out the outdoor art show in Riverside Park

Partner profile: John Jay College Biology Department

This season, at selected sites on the East River, CWQT volunteers are taking extra water samples in order to assist two biologists from John Jay College, Teeshavi Acosta (seen here on the right) and Kate Good, who are studying the presence of drugs in New York City waterways--both commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals (mood altering drugs, steroids, cardiovascular drugs, antacid and antibiotic drugs) and high prevalent drugs of abuse (cocaine, amphetamines, opioids and cannabis). By comparing those samples with the bacteria samples we are taking at the same time, it may be possible to determine the source of these micropollutants (wastewater treatment plant discharge or CSOs) and determine if there is a correlation between drug concentrations and enterococcus bacteria levels at our study sites. 

Weekly Slide Show

Siddhartha Hayes and Carrie Roble at Hudson River Park's River Project field station on Pier 40

Arturo Moreno's sample from the Grand St Bridge (East Branch of Newtown Creek)

Danny Lin with sample at the Plus Pool site on Pier 35 

That time of year again: mating season in Marine Park (Hanish Khodali)

Harbor Geography quiz: source of what waterway?

Species ID quiz: whose eggs?

Hate it when this happens!

Last week's quiz answers: 

Species ID: red boring sponge (animal); Harbor geography: Williamsburgh Yacht Club on College Point, Flushing Bay, Queens