Long Island weekly water quality report: Mixed, but improved, conditions

During the summer, a team of students and scientists led by Chris Gobler, professor of marine science at Stony Brook University and director of the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology, tests the water quality weekly at about 30 locations around Long Island. The result is the Long Island Water Quality Report, which aims to provide regular snapshots of ecosystem health, with an eye to how well the region's bays, harbors, rivers and inlets support robust fishing and shellfishing activity.

A good rating indicates clear water, adequate oxygen levels and no or low levels of algae or bacteria from human or animal waste, with levels of all parameters meeting or exceeding all state and federal water quality standards.

This week’s ratings are as follows:

GOOD: Oyster Bay Harbor, Stony Brook Harbor, Port Jefferson Harbor, Mount Sinai Harbor, Hewlett Bay, Middle Bay, Fire Island Inlet, western Great South Bay, central Great South Bay, mid-Shinnecock Bay, Shinnecock Inlet, Mattituck Inlet, Little Peconic Bay, Great Peconic Bay, Sag Harbor, Three Mile Harbor

FAIR: Cold Spring Harbor, Huntington Harbor, Northport Harbor, South Oyster Bay, eastern Great South Bay, central Moriches Bay, eastern Moriches Bay, Quantuck Bay, western Shinnecock Bay, western Flanders Bay, Peconic River

POOR: Hempstead Harbor — low dissolved oxygen, water clarity, harmful algal bloom, fecal coliform; Forge River — algal bloom, water clarity, fecal coliform, low dissolved oxygen