Skip to main content

Water Report: 'Bacteria Levels Normalized'

Tue, 08/03/2021 - 10:34

Four of the 26 water bodies tested last week by Concerned Citizens of Montauk had high levels of the enterococcus bacteria, and three had medium levels. "Bacteria levels seem to have normalized at most of our sites, with the exception of a few of our typically problematic locations," Kate Rossi-Snook of C.C.O.M. wrote last Thursday. 

Tests found four less water bodies with high levels than the week prior. Each week, C.C.O.M. tests water bodies in Amagansett, East Hampton, and Montauk for the enterococcus bacteria, which is harmful to human health in levels about 104 or higher, all considered high in the organization's reports.

In Montauk, the East Creek at Lake Montauk had the highest levels by far, at 2,359, and the Benson Drive culvert at Lake Montauk had levels of 816. Both locations are consistently "problematic," in Ms. Rossi-Snook's words. The Little Reed Pond Creek, South Beach, and West Creek sites on Lake Montauk were found to have medium entero levels. 

Tuthill Pond was found to have unusually high levels of 1,670. "It was reported that many birds were at the Tuthill Pond site, which is the likely source of high bacteria there," Ms. Rossi-Snook wrote. The pond had medium levels of bacteria last week.

All four Amagansett water bodies tested had low levels of bacteria. One Springs site, by the Springs General Store on Accabonac Harbor, was found to have high levels of bacteria, with a reading of 504. 

C.C.O.M. also tests for harmful algal blooms caused by cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. Both the boat ramp and Industrial Road locations at Fort Pond in Montauk were found to have medium risks of algal blooms. According to Ms. Rossi-Snook, this can be due to rain followed by warm, sunny days, although the risk of HABs are still low compared to past years.

Villages

Springs Food Pantry Sees the Need, Addresses It

The last few years have presented challenges the Springs Food Pantry’s founders could not have anticipated when it was first established. More than 600 families are now registered to receive the assistance it provides, and an average of 355 families are served each week.

Jun 26, 2025

A Newsletter on Being a Jew in Today’s America

One of the essential roles of religion, Rabbi Jan Uhrbach of the Bridge Shul in Bridgehampton said this week, is to “help us hold onto our humanity, and remind us of the higher values that go beyond money and power and position and all of those things, in a time when the values that I hold dear are not only being violated, they’re being rejected as values.”

Jun 26, 2025

Item of the Week: The Hemerocallis Garden, 1962

Hemerocallis may be an unfamiliar term, but the garden adjacent to Clinton Academy once bore the name. This photo shows the gate to the garden some two decades after its establishment in 1941.

Jun 26, 2025

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.