ASSESSING THE LEVELS OF WATER CONTAMINANTS DISCHARGING TO JAMAICA BAY

Lakes and ponds work as a habitat restoration zone, natural water purifier and reservoir of water. The goal of water quality monitoring is to provide the data required to protect the water body from harmful consequences of various pollution caused by anthropogenic activities. This study was conducted to find whether the Baisley Pond, Queens, NY works as a natural filter for contaminants. We measured the levels of contaminants discharging to the Jamaica Bay from Baisley Pond. Water samples were collected from two locations in Baisley pond, one is the southeast side of the pond (site-1) which is the recharge site to the pond, and the second location is the southwest side of the pond (site-2) where water discharges to the Jamaica Bay. We measured the levels of pH, TDS, electrical conductivity, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and temperature from two sites using YSI multimeter. To measure fecal indicator bacteria, we collected 100 ml of water with Colilert media for Fecal Coliform, E.Coli, and Total Coliform and Enterolert media for Enterococci bacteria. The samples were transferred to Quanti-Tray and incubated for 24 hours prior to counting of the colonies of fecal bacteria using IDEXX software. We observed that the recharge site (site-1) has the pH of 8.86, salinity of 300 mg/L, TDS of 368 mg/L, electrical conductivity of 726 μS/cm, temperature of 26.68°C, ORP of 157 mV, dissolved oxygen of 9.03 mg/L, and turbidity of 3.49 NTU. While the discharge site (site-2) has the pH of 9.19, salinity of 333 mg/L, TDS of 403 mg/L, electrical conductivity of 731 μS/cm, temperature of 25.91°C, ORP of 151 mV, dissolved oxygen of 9.66 mg/L, and turbidity of 1.19 NTU. The levels of salinity, EC, TDS, DO, and pH, were higher, while the levels of turbidity and ORP were lower at the discharge site as compared to recharge site. The comparison of fecal indicator bacteria concentrations indicates similar levels of total coliform in both sites, while lower levels of fecal coliform at the discharge site. However, higher levels of E. Coli, and enterococci was observed at the discharge site. Our study indicates higher levels of contaminants discharging to the Jamaica Bay due to the closed nature and smaller size of the pond. The waste material from sewage and effluents that accumulates into Baisley Pond to the extent it cannot purify the pollutants and thereby discharges higher levels of contaminants into Jamaica Bay.