In Spring 2016 IEC, EPA and NYSDEC began discussing the need for a coordinated volunteer pathogen monitoring effort in the shared marine waters of the Interstate Environmental District (IED). In 2016, IEC provided laboratory space, field equipment, as well as QA/QC support oversight to two citizen science groups to perform monitoring in lower New York Harbor funded through a NY-NJ HEP sponsored RFP. NYSDEC expressed an interest in expanding this type of effort into a collaborative volunteer monitoring program for the shared marine waters of the IED, which IEC piloted in 2017.

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 flushing, the far western Long Island Sound (also known as the 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. The Long Island Sound Study Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (LISS CCMP 2015) identifies the Western and Narrows basins as the ͞most stressed͟ region of Long Island Sound.