Working to keep the bacteria at bay
Mamaroneck harbor boom works, but 'mud is filthy' along river, educator finds

Monday, October 30, 2006
By Ken Valenti

MAMARONECK - A Manhattanville College assistant professor who studies the water at Mamaroneck Harbor beach expanded her research this year, and her results again showed that a Gunderboom protection screen shields bathers from much of the bacteria found in the harbor. 

The 800-foot Gunderboom - a floating boom with a filter screen hanging below - has been in place four years. 

Anna Yeung-Cheung, an assistant biology professor, and several students tested the harbor's water, sand, mud and mussels for bacteria.

This time, they also studied water and mud from Mamaroneck River and Guion Creek, where they found higher levels of bacteria. Guion Creek, especially, was loaded with bacteria compared to the other areas, Yeung-Cheung and her students found. 

"The mud is filthy," she said. 

Mamaroneck Harbor is one of the most troubled areas of Long Island Sound, partly because its sheltered configuration makes it difficult for water to flush out with tides. Beaches there and on New Rochelle's Echo Bay are closed automatically at the request of the Westchester County Health Department whenever it rains more than a half inch because history shows that the bacteria levels will rise. Even the swimming area protected by the Gunderboom is closed at those times. 

Last summer, the Mamaroneck beaches were closed seven times, compared to three times last year and nine times in 2004. 

The Manhattanville group's latest study showed that water inside the Gunderboom had E. coli counts that were 77.9 percent lower than outside the boom, similar to last year, when the count inside was 89.1 percent lower. Coliform bacteria was 69.2 percent lower inside the Gunderboom this year; last year it was 51.6 percent lower. 

The harbor itself is getting cleaner, said Gabe Sganga, beach program director with the Westchester County Health Department. 

Mamaroneck Mayor Philip Trifiletti is encouraged enough to see the day coming when the village will be able to remove the boom altogether. That won't likely come next year or 2008, he said, but soon. 

He said the village, with volunteers and environmental organizations, has attacked the harbor's pollution problems several ways, by repairing sewer lines and installing a debris-collection basket on the Mamaroneck River with a $25,000 donation from the Harbor Island Conservancy. 

"If we continue down the path we're going, I think we will eventually be able to have the harbor back the way it was," years ago, he said. 

Yeung-Cheung and her students presented the results of their study to Trifiletti and the village Board of Trustees last week. After seeing the results, the mayor said he plans to work with Harrison to clean Guion Creek, which comes to Mamaroneck from the neighboring community. 

Yeung-Cheung's study was conducted with students Nicole Benevento, Donatella Pavel and Pretima Persad, all 21-year-old seniors. Pavel, of New City, tested water for Yeung-Cheung. Benevento of New Rochelle tested sand and Persad, who lives near Guion Creek in Mamaroneck, tested mussels for bacteria. 

After doing the work, they said they look at beaches differently. 

"Now when I go to a beach, I rethink what's in the water," Pavel said. "I don't open the mouth in the water any more." 

She said she and her boyfriend came to Harbor Island Park several times over the summer and waded into the water inside the Gunderboom without fear. 

The boom was reinstalled four years ago for $135,000, allowing residents to go swimming at the beach again inside the area surrounded by the filter. Before that, bathing had been banned since a 1999 oil spill fouled an earlier Gunderboom.