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. This project is funded by NYSDEC through the Clean Water Act Section 604 (b) Water Quality Planning Grant. Ten sites were selected that are either near public access points, lack existing bacteriological monitoring, or are in areas where data indicate the waterbodies are at the threshold of being listed (or delisted) from the 303(d) list for impaired waters, and/or where wet-weather may be more likely to impact water quality. The data generated by this program will help assess whether the selected water bodies will attain their designated recreational contact criteria. It may also inform decisions for applying the newly developed wet-weather designation of specified waterbodies. With this designation, data must meet or exceed criteria for their intended use during times of dry weather and have limited exceedances during wet weather.
During the 2025 recreational season, IEC collected and analyzed surface water samples for enterococcus and fecal coliform and recorded field parameters of dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, and pH using a multi-parameter sonde weekly from the first week in April through the last week of October. This weekly sampling is now conducted at eleven sites along the East River, Harlem River, Hudson River, Gowanus Bay, Coney Island Creek, and lower New York Harbor. As of 2025, one new site was added, located on the East River next to the Wards Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. Data collected by IEC will be checked for quality and uploaded to WQX.
As of October 2025, NYSDEC has upgraded recreational water quality standards throughout 30 waterbodies located in New York City. Sites under IEC’s 604b program that were upgraded include the Harlem River, Gowanus Bay, Coney Island Creek, and the Hudson River. Many waterbodies that were previously classified with fishing as the intended use have been upgraded such that fishing and swimming are the best usages. *Although the new classifications strengthen water quality standards such that these sites are protected to NYSDEC’s standard of “swimmable water”, swimming is not the intended use of any upgraded waterways.* At these sites, enterococcus and fecal coliform levels have been low enough to indicate that water quality standards can be strengthened. Learn more about NYSDEC’s new classifications here.