IV-478 



Moriches Bay and Great South Bay, Long Island 



Information for this case study was supplied by contract investi- 

 gations conducted as part of the National Estuarine Pollution 

 Study, two federal enforcement conference proceedings and a report 

 of the Nassau-Suffolk Regional Planning Board (IV-6-5). 



Up to 7 million ducks annually live in farms located on Moriches 

 Bay and parts of Great South Bay. These ducks are a source of 

 pollution to the Bays. In one form, they cause the closing of 

 valuable shellfish beds due to high coliform counts. Another form 

 of pollution they create is BOD and eutrophication due to the 

 ducks sludge which covers the bottom of the bay in some sections. 



Studies conducted by the Division of Laborators and Research of the 

 New York State Department of Health on duck wastes have shown them 

 to be high in solids, BOD, nutrients, bacterial content, and 

 constitute a public health hazard. It was found that the strength 

 and volume of the wastes reaching the waste stream depended on the 

 number, age, activity, position of ducks in the pens, amount of 

 rainfall, runoff area, normal water use at the farms, and avail- 

 ability of water to the ducks. 



Coliform densities were found to vary from a median MPN of 5.8 x 

 10° per 100 ml to 60 x 10 per 100 ml. Typical water usages ranged 

 from 0.290 mgd to 3.0 mgd per farm and from 14 gal. to 120 gals, 

 per day per duck. 



