Waterbody / Watershed Facts - Jamaica Bay

BOROUGH:

Queens and Brooklyn

SEWER DISTRICTS

Rockaway, Jamaica,
26th Ward, Coney Island

COMMUNITY DISTRICT(S):

5, 10, 14,18

SHORELINE USES:

Commercial; Industrial; Recreational; Municipal; Parkland and Open Space

NYSDEC CLASSIFICATION:

Class SB - Primary Contact and Secondary Contact Fishing.

Existing Water Quality:

Dissolved oxygen levels and coliform are not in compliance with standards. (Jamaica Bay CSO Facility Plan, 1993). Coliform levels are primarily influenced by CSO discharges to tributaries and are most elevated in the bay at the mouths of the tributaries. Dissolved oxygen levels are in periodic non-compliance throughout the bay. Severe dissolved oxygen conditions occur in Grassy Bay where vertical stratification and hypoxic conditions often prevail in bottom waters. Floatables are discharged by CSO's to the tributaries and are generally contained by nets and booms.

EXISTING WATER USES:

Commercial and municipal shipping and barging, recreational boating and fishing. The bay is designated as a wildlife refuge where waterfowl live year round and stop during migration.

SOURCES OF
WATER POLLUTION:

CSO, stormwater and other runoff, WPCP's, landfill leachate

PHYSICAL CONDITIONS
EFFECTING WATER QUALITY
AND USES:

Seasonal water column stratification
Areas were historically dredged and filled
Increased residence time due to dredging

ECOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION:

Critical Environmental Area (NYSDEC)
Special Natural Waterfront Area (NYCDCP)
Significant Coastal Fish & Wildlife Habitats (NYSDOS)
National Wildlife Refuge (NPS)

DEP WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT(S):(WQIP)

Catch Basin Hooding Program;
CSO Facility Plan for Tributaries;
Interim Floatables Containment Program in tributaries;
Nitrogen Reduction at 26th Ward WPCP

PROJECTED WQIP WATER QUALITY:

Landfill remediation will minimize leachate discharge. WPCP improvements will improve dissolved oxygen. CSO Facility Plan will improve dissolved oxygen, virtually eliminate floatables, improve coliform conditions in the Bay to compliance.

OTHER WQIP INITIATIVES:

NY/NJ Harbor Estuary Program Habitat Workgroup
–Proposed salt marsh acquisition and restoration to increase diversity and quality of habitat
USACE
–proposed habitat restoration to improve habitat diversity