Current Testing Standards

Better monitoring of water quality is needed to understand the health of the river, to track down specific causes of exceedences, and to enable regulators to inform the public with more timely and accurate information.

• New York State Water Quality Monitoring

  The BEACH (Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health) Act of 2000 requires that coastal and Great Lake states report to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on beach monitoring and notification data for their coastal recreation waters. New York State currently monitors and reports to EPA on 353 beaches throughout the state, a number of which are in Hudson River estuarine waters.

  This monitoring is undertaken by the New York State Department of Health, which contracts with local health departments, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation in order to provide information regarding beach water quality conditions to the public.

  Marine beaches in New York State utilize the Enterococcus federal guidelines outlined in the BEACH act of a single sample maximum of 104/100ml or a geometric mean of 35/100ml from five or more samples in a 30-day period. Freshwater beaches may use either Enterococcus or total/fecal coliform standards for beach testing. Microbiological testing at permitted swimming beaches as part of New York State’s beach monitoring program is overseen by the New York State Department of Health and in New York City testing is conducted by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Current and archived data is available to the public on the web. In contrast to the publicly available data for permitted marine swimming beaches, there is much less information currently available for the heart of the Hudson River Estuary.

• New York City Sampling

  The NYC Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) conducts an extensive water quality survey for New York Harbor including bacteriological surveys. This data is analyzed and released periodically to the public in a water quality report. It is collected as part of a historical record reaching back into the early 1900s and provides very valuable information on the long-term trends in NY Harbor water quality.

  The NYCDEP New York Harbor Water Quality Report reports primarily seasonally and spatially averaged data. Limitations to this report are the delay in release (typically more than a 1-year lag time) and the lack of raw (or daily count) data to evaluate patterns of smaller spatial and temporal scale variation. This is probably because the data is not intended to inform swimmers on the short term patterns since the waters of New York Harbor are classified by the state as suitable for secondary contact recreation, fishing and boating, but not swimming (class I).

  The NYC DOHMH is required to monitor and conduct surveillance of permitted beaches in the City of New York. To its credit, DOHMH monitors and samples each beach on a weekly basis. Upon evaluation and assessment of beach water quality as specified above, when beach status changes occur, DOHMH notifies the public by on-site postings, website postings, through 311 (non emergency government service hotline), and through DOHMH press releases (when necessary). Beach operators are also notified by phone and/or email for on-site postings.

  Unfortunately, the basis for most of the water quality decision making in New York is computer modeling, not actual sampling. The models are only verified from a small amount of actual sampling.

  Counties North of New York City
  North of New York Harbor, there is very little information that can be used to adequately evaluate water quality and make determinations regarding the safety of recreation at specific times and locations.

• Counties North of New York City

  North of New York Harbor there is very little information that can be used to adequately evaluate water quality and make determinations regarding the safety of recreation at specific times and locations.