After a month that saw huge spikes in enterococcus bacteria levels at test sites throughout East Hampton Town, thanks mostly to runoff from recent thunderstorms, the Aug. 29 weekly water-quality report from Concerned Citizens of Montauk lists only one site out of 32 with entero levels considered risky to human health: Accabonac Harbor, east of the Old Stone Highway culvert in Springs, which registered a bacteria load of 146. Anything above 104 is considered unhealthy to humans.
Almost all other sites tested by C.C.O.M. registered neglible bacteria levels, with only a few coming in with numbers in the medium bacteria range, at Napeague Harbor and two spots on Lake Montauk.
C.C.O.M. also reports this week that while toxic cyanobacteria levels in Fort Pond Bay have dropped below the blue-green algal-bloom level, test sites at Industrial Road and the boat ramp are still hovering in a danger zone, and C.C.O.M. continues to urge people and their pets to use caution in and around those waters.
