Oyster Bay Estuary Water Quality, a project of Friend of the Bay.

Our mission is to preserve, protect and restore the ecological integrity and productivity of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor estuary and the surrounding watershed. We began testing water quality in the mid 1990's, starting out in a small way with just several locations in Oyster Bay. Today, we have 19 locations, tested weekly from April through October, not only in Oyster Bay Harbor, but also in Mill Neck Creek and Cold Spring Harbor.

Our water quality monitoring season begins in April and continues through the end of October!

Water Quality volunteers Scott Sayer and Burt Goldfeld at monitoring site FB6 with the Seawanhaka Yacht Club in the background.

This Week's Results

Week of August 20th, 2007

Our water quality monitoring run was shortened by the rain. At the eight sites we were able to monitor, dissolved oxygen levels were above 4.5 milligrams/Liter of dissolved oxygen. The exception to this was site 12, at Turtle Cove. There the levels were at 3.29 mg/L of dissolved oxygen, which is typical for late August.

In general, dissolved oxygen levels above 5 mg/l are preferred. Levels between 4 and 5 mg/l can cause harm to some species of organisms, especially the larvae of crustaceans such as lobster and crabs. Levels between 2 and 4 mg/l can cause harm to many organisms if exposure is prolonged. When dissolved oxygen levels decline below 2 mg/l, many organisms, such as shellfish, can be harmed quickly. Few organisms can survive exposure to levels below 1 mg/l for more than very short periods. Water temperatures continue to be warm at 22 degrees centigrade.

To learn more about what and how we monitor click here.

If you would like to become one of our water quality monitoring volunteers, are interested in other ways of assisting in our effort to preserve and protect the waters of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor estuary, or want to report an activity that may be threatening the estuary/watershed please give us a call at 516-922-6666.