Warm temperatures and scattered precipitation in the past week are likely contributors to increased bacteria in nine of 33 sites tested weekly by Concerned Citizens of Montauk, with a significant spike measured in Montauk's Fort Pond.
Nearly one-third of the sites tested on Monday showed increased Enterococcus over the previous week. Enterococcus, bacteria commonly found in the intestines of humans and animals, is often used as an indicator of water contamination, particularly by fecal matter. Recreational waters are considered unsafe if Enterococcus levels exceed 104 colony forming units, or C.F.U., per 100 milliliters for marine water and 61 C.F.U. per 100 milliliters for freshwater, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
At the Industrial Road site at Fort Pond in Montauk, a measurement of 359 C.F.U./100 mL was measured, a sharp increase from the 20 C.F.U./100 mL recorded a week earlier (measurements below 36 C.F.U./100 mL are deemed low bacteria). The test site ramp on the south side of Fort Pond also saw a large increase, from 30 to 432 C.F.U./100 mL. At the east side at Fort Pond, an increase from 30 to 134 C.F.U./100 mL was measured. The test site on the west side of Fort Pond measured fewer than 10 C.F.U./100 mL last week, but this week it saw a measurement of 122 C.F.U./100 mL.
West of Montauk, steep increases in Enterococcus were also found at Settler's Landing at Three Mile Harbor, from fewer than 10 to 860 C.F.U./100 mL, and at the shipyard ramp at Accabonac Harbor, from 31 to 203 C.F.U./100 mL.
Continued high levels were measured at the Benson Drive Culvert at Lake Montauk, at more than 24,196 C.F.U./100 mL, at the East Creek at Lake Montauk, where 1,455 C.F.U./100 mL was measured, and at the culvert at Northwest Creek in East Hampton, where the sample measured 391 C.F.U./100 ml.
Other sites where increased bacteria were measured were the Little Reed Pond Creek in Montauk, from 10 to 52 C.F.U./100 mL, or from low to medium bacteria. Levels between 36 and 104 C.F.U./100 mL are considered medium bacteria.
C.C.O.M.'s testing for harmful algal blooms this week revealed that bloom risk levels for cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, have worsened in Fort Pond from low to medium risk.
