In October of 2023, NYSDEC amended its water quality standards to include criteria for secondary contact recreation in response to an increase of secondary recreational use of the New York Harbor. Following this amendment, IEC introduced a New York Harbor water quality monitoring program to assess Class SB and I water bodies impacted by the new criteria.

Since 2021, IEC has been collecting water quality data through the NJDEP/IEC Harbor Monitoring Program in order to inform water quality classification decisions on behalf of the NJDEP Division of Water Monitoring & Standards. NJDEP uses classifications based on a series of water quality parameters to assign usage to its bodies of water (NJDEP Water Quality Standards).

Volunteer monitoring (also referred to as citizen science) is an opportunity for community citizens to participate in scientific investigations, such as ambient monitoring surveys. Volunteers from community groups collect data to better understand their environment and address local issues of concern. IEC’s volunteer monitoring efforts began in 2016, when IEC provided laboratory space, field equipment, and QA/QC support oversight to two citizen science groups to perform monitoring in the lower New York Harbor.

IEC’s staff conducts inspections with sampling at industrial facilities and municipal wastewater treatment plants year-round. These inspections, which are coordinated with state agencies, include effluent sampling and an inspection of processes, equipment, and plant records. Samples collected at these facilities are analyzed in the IEC’s certified laboratory to determine compliance with the IEC’s Water Quality Regulations and with each facility’s specific National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Program (NPDES) permit.

With high population density, extensive coastal development and insufficient tidal exchange with the Atlantic Ocean, the far western Long Island Sound (also known as the Western Narrows) is highly susceptible to degradation from pathogen and nutrient inputs due to stormwater runoff, combined sewer overflows, leaking septic systems and aging sewage infrastructure. This degradation leads to hypoxic (depleted dissolved oxygen) conditions in the Sound, particularly in the summer months when dissolved oxygen is at its lowest.