From the Queens Chronicle:
There are more harmful bacteria in Astoria’s Hallets Cove than in the city’s most “horrifically polluted” waterways, such as the infamous Newtown Creek, new data shows. And nobody knows why, though experts suspect an illegal sewer line.
“There’s a risk inherent in coming out into this water,” said Victoria Olson, who helps run a free kayaking program at Socrates Sculpture Park Beach at Hallets Cove. She is also chair of the Long Island City Community Boathouse, a nonprofit member of the New York City Water Trail Association.
“You can get fecal matter in your mucus membranes and have an adverse reaction,” Olson explained.
Hallets Cove, at Vernon Boulevard and 31st Avenue, had the most consistently high levels of Enterococcus bacteria — from human feces — out of 25 area waterfront sites tested this summer for the Citizens’ Water Quality Testing Project, run by the Water Trail Association. Elevated levels of Enterococci make for unsafe swimming conditions, and the water in the cove often contains 10 times the safe limit. The project’s organizers don’t know the source of the pollution and want the city’s Department of Environmental Protection to find out what’s wrong.
“We recently became aware of this issue and are looking into it,” said DEP spokesman Angel Roman, responding to phone calls with an emailed one-sentence statement. He declined to answer any other questions.
On top of that, the rest of Astoria smells like crap again.
8 comments:
“We recently became aware of this issue and are looking into it,”
It's been this way since I first laid eyes on this shore line - look over by Astoria Park anybody can tell you they would never ever dream of setting foot in the waters off any where in Astoria or LIC! Nothing new - stay off the shoreline and especially out of the water!
Look what we have done to the world.
There was definitely some point in time, probably 400 years ago, where that water was swimmable and fishable.
Now its just a baron conduit for massive ships to travel.
Certainly not shittier
than the banks of the Flushing River (aptly named)!
All of Queens is pretty shitty!
Old grandfathered treatment plants in North White Plains, Scarsdale, Mount Vernon, Yonkers, Bronxville constantly dump their sewage into the Bronx River, which empties into the west end of the Sound.
They been operating run-a muck un-policed with 19th century equipment like pirates or decades up there. Now, with all the development the treatment systems constantly get overwhelmed and discharge into the Bronx river.
Queens serves only as my crash pad...my crib.
Manhattan is my oyster...
wish I could afford to live there.
Queens offers only 4th rate culture to offer.
Wasn't some wealthy mob connected doctor
and his friends, supposed to have developed that site?
The sewer line that runs the length of the East River in LIC and Astoria has been clogged for two generations now causing the massive flooding in the area when over an inch of rain falls. Crap has no where to go but in the river.
The DEP will continue to turn a blind eye.
Bloomberg will continue to "tweed" our taxes that should go to clean this up to his "buddies".
YOU voted for HIM!
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