Bloomberg LP – Dives into data and so much more

Individuals give back to their community in their own unique ways. For example, COA supporters prefer to volunteer by cleaning up their local beach. Others want to use their expertise and skills to give back to an organization.

In 2011, a team of volunteers from Bloomberg LP first participated in COA’s Corporate Beach Sweeps program. They were inspired by data that had resulted and expanded their unique relationship with COA, taking it from the beach to the office, to explore the data from the Beach Sweeps Program. As you may know, every Beach Sweeper becomes a ‘citizen scientist’ as they record each piece of debris collected on our data cards. The data collection turns a one-day event into a legacy of information that can be used to identify sources of pollution and monitor trends. This research helps COA discover solutions to keep beaches clean and healthy, create federal, state, and local programs to reduce litter in the environment, and protect the public and marine life. Today, COA has over 20+ years of this carefully tracked information. But what does it really say? Has marine debris in New Jersey changed over time?

In the spring of 2014, Bloomberg LP partnered with COA to thoroughly analyze the Beach Sweeps’ data set. This analysis will be the first of its kind in Beach Sweeps history. The goal is to more accurately monitor trends throughout the years and eventually link those trends with various legislation from the past, present, and future, as well as to trach consumerism, weather, and industry changes. In addition to this analysis, the Bloomberg LP team has been working on an innovative technological approach to data management for the Beach Sweeps program. They do so voluntarily, dedicating hundreds of hours.

An overview of the goals of the partnership was released at the Debris Free Sea Conference in November (please check COA’s website to view the presentation), and a more detailed analysis will be ready for the public in 2016.

COA salutes the Bloomberg team for all the volunteer hours and for their dedication.  It is a pleasure working with the dynamic team. They have accomplished a great deal and we look forward to what the future holds for our partnership. COA is also grateful to Bloomberg LP for generously matching their employees’ hard work through their “Dollars for Your Hours” program. 

COA Dives Deep into the Plastic Problem

Beach Sweeps Captains, agency officials, environmental leaders, business representatives, and students gathered at COA’s Debris Sea Free Conference to discuss issues and solutions to plastic pollution that threatens our coasts.  The full day conference, which was open to the public, delved into various topics starting with an overview of the current state of marine debris by the renowned Joan Leary Matthews, Director of the Clean Water Division of the U. S. EPA (Region 2).

Throughout the day, guests enjoyed discussions and workshops, including single use solutions, biodegradable plastics, and the social science behind why people litter.  This event was in recognition of 30 successful years of the Beach Sweeps program, all its volunteers, and the data compiled at over 70 locations.

During COA’s Beach Sweeps every volunteer becomes a ‘citizen scientist’ as they record each piece of debris collected.  The data collection turns a one-day event into a legacy of information that is used to identify sources of pollution and monitor trends.  Clean Ocean Action has been honored to partner with Bloomberg LP to thoroughly analyze the Beach Sweeps’ data set.  These records were revealed at the conference unveiling the extensive evaluation of more than twenty years of data.  This information will help to accurately monitor trends linking them with various legislation, consumerism, weather events, and industry changes.

The attendees admired creative marine debris community art mosaics designed by local artists and volunteers.  The large panels created an interesting thought-provoking visual display of “trash into treasure” as participants entered into the main area of the conference.

Over 150 conference guests were treated to breakfast, lunch and a wrap-up reception highlighting the most valuable resource of the Beach Sweeps – our volunteer Beach Captains.  COA thanks all the Captains and volunteers over the years, as well as the talented and experienced workshop panelists, plenary moderators and speakers at the Debris Free Sea Conference. 

Waves of Thanks for a Successful 30th Fall Beach Sweeps

On Saturday, October 24th, close to 3,000 volunteers hit the beaches to participate in Clean Ocean Action's 30th Annual Fall Beach Sweeps at over 65 sites from Essex County to Cape May County. Volunteers removed and catalogued each piece of debris, helping to document ongoing pollution issues. Robust crowds were reported up and down the coast. Many volunteers came as teams from local businesses, corporate and grassroots organizations, school and church groups, and families, all with personal ties to the Shore and some with decades of Sweeps participation.

Special thanks to the Beach Captains who helped make this event so successful. Beach Captains, lead volunteers who direct the entire group of participants at each Beach Sweeps location, are essential to the program’s success. They are the heart and soul of Beach Sweeps. These dedicated volunteers coordinate and manage all of the volunteers on the day of the event, answer questions from the volunteers about ocean pollution and serve as COA representatives.

On Sandy Hook alone, Beach Sweep volunteers picked up: 5,846 plastic pieces, 5,324 food/candy wrappers, 4,785 caps/lids, 2,206 straws/stirrers, 1,879 cigarette filters, and 1,047 plastic beverage/soda bottles.

The next Beach Sweeps will be on Saturday, April 30^th. In the meantime, join us at the Debris Free Sea Conference on November 11, 2015. 

30th Annual Spring Beach Sweeps

Nearly 4,000 Volunteers Swept the Beach

Waves of thanks to everyone who participated in our 30th Annual Spring Beach Sweeps! Nearly 4,000 volunteers hit the beaches at over 70 sites from Essex County to Cape May County. Another huge thank you to Clean Ocean Action’s Beach Captains, the volunteers who lead the entire group of participants at each Beach Sweeps location - you are essential to the program’s success. Clean Ocean Action may organize the cleanup and compile the data, but it is truly the Beach Captains and the volunteers that are the heart and soul of this program.

For three decades volunteers have been making their way to the coast, bays, and waterways, twice a year, to clean up debris. Many of the volunteers have personal ties to the Shore and have been participating for multiple generations. The volunteers this year powered through the morning chill and got right into sweeping the beaches.

•       Participants in Atlantic City rallied beforehand with speeches from Charlie Wimberg, Region VP of Atlantic City Electric and elected officials.
•        213 volunteers showed up at the Raritan Bay Waterfront and found some unusual  items including animal bones, broom, binoculars and pliers.
•       A yoga mat was found on an Asbury Park Beach.
•        At Snug Harbor in the Highlands, a volunteer found possible fulgurite, blob of glass fused sand caused by lightening strike!
•    Students from Hightstown Environmental Club found a door and giant plastic container in Sandy Hook.
•         An amazing find was a seahorse at Ortley Beach! Although the wondrous critter had passed away, it is a healthy sign that they are back.

Selected totals from Sandy Hook included: 6265 food/candy wrappers, 8289 plastic pieces, 3126 straws/stirrers, 2301 foam pieces, 1339 store/shopping bags, and 1680 beverage/soda bottles.

In addition to logging standard debris counts for various plastics, glass and lumber items, Sweeps participants also logged the strange objects that make their way to the beach from various nonpoint sources. Some of the ridiculous items catalogued today included a yoga mat, underwear, dog dentures, teddy bear, a Valentine’s Day stuffed heart, tire, seahorse, and sand hit by lighting glass.

This spring data will be combined with data collected in the fall. Make sure you mark your calendars for the 30th Annual Fall Sweeps on Saturday October 24th from 9 AM to 12:30 PM at the various locations!

Why I am a Beach Captain

By Leah A. Savia

Clean Ocean Action’s Beach Captain for Island Beach State Park

Clean Ocean Action’s Beach Sweeps is an important event that I have had the distinct pleasure of volunteering for as Beach Captain at the Island Beach State Park location the last five years. I will a Beach Captain there this upcoming Spring Beach Sweep on Saturday April 25^th. As a transplant from NYC, and new member of the Barnegat Bay Watershed, I was introduced to Beach Sweeps as part of a student event at Ocean County College and consider it not only a duty, but one of my core passions—volunteering, to ensure the safety and cleanliness of our surrounding water bodies.

What better way to truly be a part of this amazing county and community? Beach Sweeps is a family, couple, grandparent, kids, and student friendly event, and it provides an education component that transcends being inside of a classroom. Very often the nature of what refuse is found is discussed, pondered, and further researched by many of the groups I work with every spring and fall season. How did a crematorium tag from Bergen County get all the way down here on the bayside? It certainly spurs the imagination of our participants.

Sharing my experience and satisfaction with being a part of this event is perhaps why I am choosing to write you. Surely there are some good people reading your publication who have the desire to do something for their community, they just don’t know what. If any of you reading this swim, sail, walk, run, entertain guests, meditate, do yoga, waverun, or bask in the glorious summer sky off or on the shores of the Atlantic or surrounding waterways, to them and to you, I say -  come join us Saturday April 25^th from 9 AM to 12:30 PM at over 70 locations around New Jersey! 

COA Raises Questions on Environmental and Development Impacts of Proposed Ocean Outfall for Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant at Public Hearings

The State of New York announced on April 23 that three public hearings would be held on Long Island in May to gather information and input from scientists, engineers, local government representatives, environmental groups, and the public on how to improve coastal resiliency and wastewater infrastructure on Long Island.  

One of the most controversial issues presently up for discussion is the proposed construction of an ocean outfall pipe at the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant, located in Nassau County.  In addition to relocating the outfall from the Western Bays to the ocean, the current proposal includes conversion of two smaller treatment plants in the area to pumping stations, which would send their wastewater to Bay Park for ultimate ocean discharge.  

COA delivered the following oral comments during the third of the three meetings, held on May 28 at the Suffolk County Community College:

Good afternoon.  Thank you to the panel for inviting the public here today to offer their comments.  My name is Cassandra Ornell and I work as staff scientist for Clean Ocean Action, a non-profit organization.  Clean Ocean Action’s mission is to improve the marine water quality off the New York and New Jersey coasts.  We’ve been working to clean up these shared waters for over 30 years now.

I’d like to share some thoughts on the proposed ocean outfall for the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant today.  From what I’ve heard and read, it seems like we are in agreement that the Western Bays are suffering – we’ve seen this problem time and again here on Long Island as well as in New Jersey, as John Weber from Surfrider discussed.  These problems are caused by an excess of nutrient loads entering the waters, which is oftentimes linked to excessive development.

This is a problem that certainly deserves our attention, and we support the upgrading of the Bay Park Plant to tertiary treatment and denitrification of the effluent.

However, the call for an ocean outfall pipe concerns us, for several reasons.

1) The Bay Park plant currently discharges 58 million gallons per day, with a capacity of 70 million gallons per day.  What ecological impacts will relocating this source of freshwater input to the Bays have on Bay salinity and ecosystem functioning?

2) On the ocean side – have studies of localized ecological and physical impacts to the marine environment in the area of the proposed ocean outfall pipe been done?  Where will the currents take this effluent?  How will localized salinity changes impact the marine ecosystem?  What species or habitat types are present in this area?

3) Freshwater is already very scarce on Long Island – we are depleting our aquifer and saltwater intrusion is a major concern.  Given this backdrop of freshwater scarcity and aquifer depletion, I have two questions:

                a) What will be done to ensure the expansion of the plant will not increase sprawl and further aquifer depletion?

                b) How can we reasonably throw away over 50 million gallons of highly treated freshwater daily?  Once freshwater is discharged to the ocean, there is no getting it back.

This proposed destruction of invaluable freshwater resources is a huge waste.  Not to mention the estimated $690 million dollars it would cost – just to build a long pipe out to the ocean.

As such, Clean Ocean Action would like to voice our support for recycling of the treated effluent from the Bay Park plant.  I urge the County, State, and Federal agencies to fully explore all options for water recycling, including aquifer recharge, potable and non-potable reuse, and surface water and freshwater wetland recharge.  These alternatives should be evaluated now, before moving forward with a decision on the ocean outfall pipe.  

Instead of pushing our problems out to sea, let’s spend those nearly 700 million dollars on a green, sustainable solution that employs efficient use and reuse of our freshwater resources.  Long Island is at a critical juncture now, and has the chance to choose a more sustainable path and serve as a model for other communities. 

  

As the discussion continues, it is essential that we all recognize this as a dilemma.  While an ocean outfall may be preferred by some, ocean dumping is nothing to celebrate.  The rally cry for an ocean outfall should be tempered with the reminder that many of us have long worked to keep harmful pollution out of the New York bight.  Though cleaner than in the past, this little pocket of the ocean is suffering too - it's downstream of the most densely populated region in the US, at the receiving end of billions of gallons of wastewater, and is weakened by the adverse effects of climate change. 

The Governor’s office will host a fourth meeting in June (date and location TBD) to announce their recommendations for improvement of wastewater and septic system issues on the island.  For more information on meetings held to date, how to submit your own comments, and the schedule for the final meeting in the series, click here.

Groups File Notice of Intent to Sue EPA for Failure to Protect Beachgoers from Water Pollution

Press contact: Sean Dixon, Clean Ocean Action 732-872-0111, Policy@CleanOceanAction.org

                        Tina Posterli, Riverkeeper 516-526-9371, tposterli@riverkeeper.org

                        Matt King, Heal the Bay, 310-451-1500 ext. 137, mking@healthebay.org

                        Blair Fitzgibbon, Waterkeeper Alliance, 202-503-6141, Blair@fitzgibbonmedia.com

EPA’s new water quality criteria fail to protect human health as required by the BEACH Act.
NEW YORK, N.Y. (June 20, 2013) – The Environmental Protection Agency has failed to meet its legal responsibility to adopt water quality criteria that address the health threat posed by pollution at U.S. beaches, according to a notice of intent to sue filed by a coalition of local and national organizations concerned about beach water quality. The groups are Clean Ocean Action, Hackensack Riverkeeper, Heal the Bay, Natural Resources Defense Council, NY/NJ Baykeeper, Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance.

“Too many of America’s beaches are sick – and they’re passing on their illnesses to families across the country,” said Steve Fleischli, Water Program Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “But EPA is not doing its job to help make sure we are safe when our families head to the beach.”

More than 180 million people visit coastal and Great Lakes beaches every year, and swimming and surfing are favorite pastimes in the United States. But beach closings due to hazardous contamination remain near all-time highs. In 2011, there were over 23,000 beach closing and health advisory days across the country. More than two-thirds of the closing and advisory days were prompted by dangerously high bacteria levels, indicating the presence of human or animal waste. The underlying culprits are generally improperly treated sewage, animal manure and contaminated stormwater runoff, which have a highly deleterious effect on water quality.

This pollution poses a significant threat to public health. Pathogens in contaminated waters can cause a wide range of diseases – including gastroenteritis, dysentery, hepatitis, and respiratory illness. However, despite these risks, EPA’s latest actions fail to protect people who choose to recreate in coastal waters. EPA has estimated that up to 3.5 million people become ill annually from contact with either overflow of overburdened sewage treatment plants during storm events, leakage from faulty infrastructure, or inappropriate sewage treatment.

“A day at the beach should never make someone sick,” said Kirsten James, Science and Policy Director for Water Quality at Heal the Bay. “EPA missed a major opportunity and a legal mandate to upgrade its recreational water quality criteria to better protect the public from the dangers of polluted water at U.S. beaches. This must be corrected.”

In 2000, Congress enacted the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act), requiring EPA to modernize criteria for water quality that would protect beach users from illnesses caused by pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria. EPA updated these criteria in 2012. However, EPA’s 2012 criteria are inadequate and fail to protect public health in several ways:

• EPA’s criteria fail to protect against single day exposures to pathogens. 
• EPA now allows water quality samples to exceed contamination levels EPA has determined are unsafe up to 10% of the time without triggering a violation. This approach could mask a serious pollution problem and expose families to an unnecessary risk of illness from recreating in local waterways.
• EPA’s new criteria also fail to address the risk of non-gastrointestinal illnesses – such as rash and ear infections – that result from recreating in contaminated waters. The agency concluded that addressing stomach illnesses would adequately protect the public from other types of ailments.
• EPA’s criteria permit a level of risk that would result in 36 of every 1000 beachgoers becoming ill with vomiting, nausea, or stomachaches. This level of risk is unacceptably high.

“Swimmers deserve to know that their favorite beach is clean on the day they're using it. It doesn't matter to them one bit what the average water quality was a month ago,” said Captain Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper. “New Jersey discharges 23 billion gallons of sewage per year from permitted sewer overflows. Sometimes our waters are clean, sometimes they are dangerous; we are not safe unless we know which is true on a daily basis.”

“The New York-New Jersey Harbor has seen both increasing recreational use and increasing impacts from disease causing pollution,” said Deborah A. Mans, the NY/NJ Baykeeper. “We need EPA to let people know when the water is safe and to punish polluters when it is not. A monthly standard just does not protect public health.”

“EPA’s criteria is doubly flawed because it not only assumes that is acceptable for 36 of every 1000 people to contract gastro-intestinal illness by recreating in contaminated water, an unacceptably high number; it also ignores the proven risk of other health impacts, from rashes to eye and ear infections that routinely plague swimmers in our waterways,” said Phillip Musegaas, Hudson River Program Director for Riverkeeper. “People recreating in the Hudson River must be protected with strict standards, utilizing the best science to truly protect public health rather than the EPA’s status quo.”

“Science-based criteria for pathogens in recreational waters are the cornerstone of the Clean Water Act’s protections against widespread pollution by animal manure and human sewage and are essential to protecting people that swim and fish in our nation’s waterways from pathogenic illness,” said Kelly Foster, Senior Attorney for Waterkeeper Alliance. “EPA has adopted criteria that do not protect the public from disease when swimming and fishing, make it more difficult to reduce or eliminate pathogens from our recreational waters, and do not adequately inform the public about the risk they face when deciding to go to the beach. Without adequate recreational criteria, the Clean Water Act simply cannot function to adequately protect us from disease when swimming at our nation’s beaches and recreational waters.”

“The beaches, boardwalks, and bays of the nation drive billion-dollar coastal economies,” said Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action, “having clean, safe beaches where parents, children, tourists, locals, surfers, and fishermen can enjoy a day at the beach without a day at the doctor’s is the keystone condition for these clean coastal economies. The EPA has failed in its duty to protect beachgoers using the best science, and has failed to develop a system that warns the public of health risks before they happen – not several days or weeks later.”

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Clean Ocean Action is a coalition-based non-profit organization working to improve and protect the water quality of the marine waters off the New Jersey and New York coasts. Follow us @CleanOcean or online through www.CleanOceanAction.org

Hackensack Riverkeeper is a non-profit corporation organized to provide representation for the living resources of the Hackensack River. Hackensack Riverkeeper runs boat tours and operates a paddling center on the Hackensack River in the Meadowlands, and has its offices in Hackensack New Jersey. Captain Bill Sheehan founded Hackensack Riverkeeper fifteen years ago. www.hackensackriverkeeper.org

Heal the Bay is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Santa Monica Bay and all southern California coastal waters and watersheds. Progress toward the mission is achieved by effectively combining the use of science, advocacy, community outreach, and public education to create positive environmental change. For over two decades, Heal the Bay has been effective in cleaning up polluted waterbodies, including freshwater and coastal waters, to better protect the health of the public and aquatic life throughout the Los Angeles region. www.healthebay.org

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Livingston, Montana, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.

NY/NJ Baykeeper is a non-profit corporation working to protect, preserve, and restore the ecological integrity and productivity of the New York/ New Jersey Bay. Baykeeper conducts restoration programs, especially oyster restoration, in both New York and New Jersey waters, works to acquire land for preservation and advocates for clean water throughout its coverage area – extending from Sandy Hook, New Jersey through Jamaica Bay Queens. Debbie Mans is the NY/NJ Baykeeper. http://nynjbaykeeper.org/

Riverkeeper is a membership-based, non-profit group dedicated to defending the Hudson River and its tributaries and protecting the drinking water supply of New York City and Hudson Valley residents. Through enforcement, grassroots advocacy and policy initiatives Riverkeeper has helped to establish globally recognized standards for waterway and watershed protection, and serves as the model for the growing Waterkeeper movement that includes nearly 200 Keeper programs across the country and around the globe. For more information please go to www.riverkeeper.org

Waterkeeper Alliance is an international alliance of water advocates working to patrol and protect rivers, streams, and coastlines around the world. Waterkeeper Alliance represents the interests of over 200 member watershed organizations providing a way for communities to stand up for their right to clean water. Visit us at http://www.waterkeeper.org and follow us on Twitter @Waterkeeper.

Reused, Eco Art: "Plastic World" By Mary Ellen Croteau

Here at Clean Ocean Action, we work very hard to prevent plastic pollution as much as we can.  Sometimes, however, plastic can create beautiful art.  Check out artist, Mary Ellen Croteau's "Plastic World" exhibition: 

"Chicago-based artist, feminist and social activist Mary Ellen Croteau transforms scrap made from organic polymers into contemporary art in an effort to clean up our environment and draw attention to litter that often goes un-recycled. She does it by turning discarded plastic bags, jar lids and bottle caps into decorative and room-brightening objects."  For more information, click here.