Save the Sound releases 2023 report on water quality for L.I. Sound beaches

With the official arrival of summer, beach season is here and with beach season comes the inevitable beach closing notices from the county health department.

So, how safe are local beaches for swimming?

Swimmers at public beaches in Riverhead and Southold towns still enjoy good water quality, according to the 2023 Beach Report just published by the nonprofit environmental advocacy group Save the Sound.

Among town beaches on the Long Island Sound in Riverhead, Reeves Beach was the only one where the water quality got the top grade of A+. Water quality at Wading River town beach received a B+ grade. Iron Pier Beach slipped to a C+ in this year’s analysis by Save the Sound.

Water quality at Wildwood State Park beach earned a B+ grade.

Town beaches in Southold, as well as the Orient State Park beach all earned A+ grades.

How is water quality scored?

Save the Sound analyzes water quality data collected by health departments for Long Island Sound beaches in New York and Connecticut and reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The grading system used in the Long Island Sound Beach Report captures two scenarios for each beach, the report states:

1) How often water was identified as unsafe for swimming (frequency).

2) How high the level of contamination was (magnitude) on the worst sampling day of the season.

Sources and concentration of contamination can vary with rainfall amounts, frequency and magnitude grades are provided for both dry and wet weather conditions. (Wet weather conditions are when 1⁄4 inch of rain or more fell in the 48 hours prior to sampling.)

Iron Pier Beach got a D for frequency of failing grades on both wet and dry days, and a C for magnitude of failures on both wet and dry days.

Wading River Beach got a D for frequency of failure on dry days, and an A for wet days. It rated a C for magnitude of failures on dry days and an a on wet days.

Wildwood State Park beach got A grades for both frequency and magnitude of failures on wet days, but a D for frequency and a C for magnitude of failures on dry days.

What causes poor water quality?

Mostly, bacteria associated with the presence of fecal matter is to blame.

Stormwater runoff — water that’s drained off roads by storm drains connected to pipes that empty onto beaches or even directly into water bodies — often contains animal wastes. Sometimes the bacteria comes from on-site septic systems that aren’t working properly. Some beaches are on water bodies that don’t have adequate water flow to exchange the near-shore water with the waters of the open Sound.

Rushing water also picks up fertilizer and pesticides from lawns, the report notes. Fuel, oil, grease, and tire debris from our cars and many other chemicals are also picked up by stormwater as it runs over developed areas.

Other sources can be sewage treatment plant malfunctions or infrastructure failures like cracked sewer lines.

In some places, such as New York City and some cities in Connecticut, combined sewer systems are a major source of fecal bacteria in waterways. Combined systems use the same pipes for stormwater runoff and wastewater, which flow into the same treatment plant. When there’s a heavy rainfall, the combination of sewer waste and stormwater can overburden the collection system, resulting in the excess — untreated — waste being discharged into nearby waterways.

“Roughly 60% of New York City uses combined sewer systems, and there are about 700 combined sewer outfalls across the five boroughs,” according to the Save the Sound report.

How does poor water quality affect bathers?

Beaches are usually closed to bathing when bacteria levels — specifically, bacteria associated with the presence of fecal matter — reach levels known to be unsafe for swimming.

Swimming in contaminated water can cause a lot of different health problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, upper respiratory tract illnesses and minor skin, eye, ear, nose, and throat irritations.

Save the Sound publishes the results of its data analysis every two years.

The 2023 report is available on the organization’s website. The report also includes scores on privately owned beaches, such as those owned and operated by camps and clubs. And it also has information on Sound beaches all across Long Island and Connecticut.

Save the Sound also offers an online interactive tool that provides access to data for specific beaches, including how many samples were analyzed, percent of samples that failed. Data available there dates back to 2003. The interactive tool also provides information about combined sewer outflows.