NEW YORK — The New York/New Jersey Baykeeper and Friends of the Bonsal Preserve received $25,000 from the EPA "citizen science" grants to monitor water quality on tributaries of the New York/New Jersey Harbor, according to a press release.
Citizen science enlists the public in collecting an expansive range of environmental data and is an important tool for expanding scientific knowledge and literacy, and the grants are used to help organizations collect information on water and air pollution in their communities and search for solutions to environmental and public health problems, reported the release.
The organizations are testing for Enterococcus, bacteria indicating the presence of fecal contamination, as well as also measuring general water quality parameters such as dissolved pH, oxygen and temperature, and the sampling will conclude in late August, stated the release.
“Citizen science is an important, growing field that can provide invaluable insight into pollution problems in local communities,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “This funding will help inform local residents about the environmental conditions in their own backyards.”
Read the entire release here.
