A signature publication of the Water Quality Work Group is the Harbor-Wide Water Quality Monitoring Report. The report is a collaborative effort to develop a series of water quality trend assessments to portray a consolidated understanding of quality in all the shared waters of the Harbor Estuary.
The compiled data is analyzed and compared average values relative to the federal Clean Water Act goals as well as current regulatory standards in the Harbor Estuary. Water quality is described by concentrations of pathogenic bacteria, such as Enterococcus and fecal coliform, which are used to determine safety for human contact. Another parameter, dissolved oxygen, is used to assess the ability of a waterway to support fish and other aquatic organisms. In addition, the 2021 Report explores total nitrogen and chlorophyll-a concentrations to inform how these parameters may impact dissolved oxygen concentration in a waterbody.
Reports
- 2021 Harbor-Wide Water Quality Monitoring Report
- The Bronx River and Western Long Island Sound
- East River and Harlem River
- Jamaica Bay
- Lower Passaic River and Newark Bay
- Hackensack River
- Lower Raritan River
- Lower Hudson River
- Upper New York Bay
- Arthur Kill and the Kill van Kull (The Kills)
- Lower Bay (Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, and the Lower New York Bay)
- Press Release
- 2011 Harbor-Wide Water Quality Monitoring Report
- 2006 Harbor-Wide Water Quality Monitoring Report