Claire Ng, Victor Carranno, and Rinni Sutanto

 

Topic: How water qualities of body of water differ from park to park in NYC

 

Claire

“NYC Beach Water Quality.” Maps.nyc.gov. https://maps.nyc.gov/beach/.

Updated by the New York City Government, this source shows data on all of New York City beaches and their weekly enterococci bacteria count. Enterococci bacteria count is the indicator of fecal contamination in recreational water. Such bacteria resides in both animals and humans, but a high count of such bacteria makes water contaminated thus unsafe for humans to be in. Separated into two columns, the data shows the enterococci bacteria count through a “30 Day Geometric Mean” and a whole day count. Since such data is collected by the NYC government and water contamination facilities, the findings are legitimate as well as frequently updated. This source will provide data to compare the water quality of NYC beaches and the specific count and background information of what enterococci bacteria is and how it is used to detect water contamination.

 

Dellatto, Marisa, and Suzy Weiss. “Just How Safe Are NYC’s Water Fountains?” New York Post. June 26, 2018. https://nypost.com/2018/06/25/just-how-safe-are-nycs-water-fountains/.

A study explained in this popular article from the New York Post tested the water quality of several water fountains from several New York City parks, including Van Cortlandt, Prospect, McCarren, Central, Washington Square, Bryant, Flushing Meadows-Corona and Clove Lakes. Scientists from the EMSL Analytical tested the water to see if there were any signs of unclean water, such as the indication of lead, dangerous bacteria, microorganisms and other chemicals. The researchers, as cited in the article, found no “reg flags” but did indicate turbid waters in all the parks except McCarren, which means murky water. This source provides further data to represent the water quality throughout NYC parks and the organizations that research the cleanliness of such water. This source also indicates some of the basic “red flags” to look out for when judging water quality. Both authors are frequent writers for the New York Post. While Weiss focuses more on on an array of topics, including lifestyle, Dellatto writes more on debunking certain health ideas as well as reporting on health findings.

 

“New York City 2017 Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report.” NYC Environmental Protection, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/wsstate17.pdf

This is the 2017 New York City report on the drinking water supply and quality, released by the NYC Environmental Protection issued by mayor Bill de Blasio and Vincent Sapienza, the R.E. Commissioner. This report describes where the city’s water source comes from, how it is cleaned and other restrictions/processes to provide the city the cleanest water. This source will provide a great background and basic understanding how water is supplied and cleaned for the city and its parks and other recreational use. Since this is an official report by the city, this source provides sufficient and concrete data to support our project and the background knowledge that is required for readers to understand the topic.

 

Victor

 

Dorn, Sara. 2018. “These New York City beaches are teeming with fecal bacteria.” New York Post, June 30, 2018, https://nypost.com/2018/06/30/these-new-york-        city-beaches-are-teeming-with-fecal-bacteria/

 

This popular article from the New York Post presents the findings of the New York City Health Department’s studies on bacterial concentration in the water at three beaches in southeast Brooklyn.  The Health Department’s records showed that the Manhattan, Kiddie and Kingsborough beaches along the Rockaway Inlet had more than three times as many bacteria warnings as the city’s other seven public beaches.  High counts of the fecal bacteria Enterococci resulted in swim warnings on 101 days between the three beaches during the summers of 2016 and 2017. According to the article, the Health Department believes that the high bacterial concentrations are due to increased rainfall, which clean-water experts say cause sewage overflows into New York Harbor.  We will use this source to supplement the data we find on the water quality throughout New York City. This article will help us to better understand some of the data as we attempt to interpret it.

 

Department of Environmental Protection. 2013. “Harbor Water Quality.” NYC Open Data, September 13, 2018, https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Environment/Harbor-Water- Quality/5uug-f49n

This dataset published on NYC OpenData presents water quality data compiled by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.  The dataset includes measurements of several variables related to overall water quality such as pH, transparency, turbidity and bacterial concentration.  The data has been collected at multiple locations along New York Harbor and its various tributaries over the course of many years. We will use some of the data from this source in order to assess and analyze overall water quality throughout New York City.  This data will provide us with several important variables that can help us better understand and determine how water quality varies in different parts of the city.

  1. “New York City Waterfront.” Riverkeeper, October 27, 2018, https://www.riverkeeper.org/water-quality/citizen-data/new-york-city-waterfront/

 

Riverkeeper is non-profit environmental organization that is a leading clean-water advocate.  The organization is dedicated to fighting water pollution and improving the water-quality of New York’s Hudson River.  Riverkeeper compiles the results of sample water tests taken by citizen scientists along New York City’s waterfront. These sample tests are coordinated by the New York City Water Trail Association (NYCWTA) and are taken weekly from May to October.  The sample tests measure the Enterococcus bacterial count of water at various locations along twelve waterways within New York City’s urban area. Additionally, Riverkeeper compiles rainfall data at these various locations, which is an important variable that is used to understand differences in water quality.  We will use this source to assess the correlation between rainfall and the bacterial concentration of water at locations throughout New York City. This will help us to better understand differences in water quality and what these differences may be attributed to.

 

Rinni

  1. Mukundan, Rajith, Soni M. Pradhanang, Elliot M. Schneiderman, Donald C. Pierson, Aavudai Anandhi, Mark S. Zion, Adão H. Matonse, David G. Lounsbury, and Tammo S. Steenhuis. 2013. “Suspended Sediment Source Areas and Future Climate Impact on Soil Erosion and Sediment Yield in a New York City Water Supply Watershed, USA.” Geomorphology 183 (February): 110–19. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.06.021.

 

This source is a study published in Geomorphology, a scientific journal that specializes in geology and its effects on life. This is a reputable source that is peer-reviewed and controlled. The authors have proficient knowledge in the sciences and have scientific backgrounds. This source will help our research project in that it discusses the effect of soil erosion on New York City watersheds. The study features quantified data that shows the soil-sediment levels in 891 km2 Cannonville watershed in New York City. The study found that there has been a rapid increase in sediment in the water over the years due to climate change. They have also projected that the sediment levels will keep increasing in future years as climate change intensifies.

  1. Dignan, Clare. 2018. “Water Quality Improving in Long Island Sound, Report Says.” West Hartford News. October 02, 2018. http://www.westhartfordnews.com/news/water-quality-improving-in-long-island-sound-report-says/article_332c9dc1-5c65-50de-b872-9b401d2d9e04.html.

 

This source is a news article published by a local news source. This news article is on the water quality of the beaches on Long Island. Although this is not a source that is heavily based in science, the source discusses in detail the quantitative and qualitative findings of scientists who tested the water. The article references the Long Island Sound Report Card 2018, which was a 10 year study conducted by environmentalists. The source discusses the Oxygen levels, Nitrogen levels, water clarity, dissolved organic carbon, and phytoplankton populations in the waters of Long Island, as well as the trends in the data. This study and report would be a good source for our project, so this article was helpful in that it led us to the study.

 

  1. Spivack, Caroline. 2018. “New York Harbor Is The Cleanest It Has Been In A Century: Study.” Tribeca-FiDi, NY Patch. September 04, 2018. https://patch.com/new-york/downtown-nyc/new-york-harbor-cleanest-it-has-been-century-study.

 

This source was published by Patch.com, a local New York City news source. Although this source is not the most credible, it references a study conducted by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. This study is permalinked in the article, and it details the findings of dissolved oxygen levels, Nitrogen levels, and bacteria populations in the New York City harbor. The study found that the water is the cleanest it has been in the last one hundred years. This source will be very valuable to our research project because it has a lot of quantified data that we can use to make conclusions about the water quality in different parts of New York City.