New app offers information on Long Island waterways, shores

How clean (or dirty) are Long Island’s waters right now? Which beaches are open (or closed)? Where is clamming allowed (or not)?

There’s an app for all that.

The new app, from scientists at Stony Brook University who study the environment, tracks and displays real-time information about the Island’s waterways and shores. It’s called LIBAWQA, short for the Long Island Beach and Water Quality App. It will locate you by GPS and show data on the nearest waterways and beaches — "and the open and closed status of every bay, harbor, estuary, and river on Long Island with regard to shellfishing," the university wrote in a news release.

That’s more than 500,000 acres of bays, harbors and estuaries and more than 200 beaches.

"You want to go to the beach? OK, it’ll show you all the nearest beaches, some which you might not have even known, and it’ll tell you whether they’re open or closed. And it’ll let you see the history of the water quality there … with one click you’ll see what the record is," said Christopher J. Gobler, professor of marine sciences at Stony Brook, one of those behind the app.

The app tracks and reports five metrics — algae levels, bacteria levels, water clarity, levels of dissolved oxygen and levels of algal bloom.

The app is available on most devices, including Apple, Android and Microsoft, but using the app requires both not just downloading it scanning a QR code, available at somas.stonybrook.edu/longislandbeaches.

"You pull up your boat, and you want to dig for clams, for example. Well, are you in an area that’s open or not?" he said, adding: "If you’re fishing in an area where there’s low or no oxygen, you’re probably not gonna have any success."

The app pulls from several public databases, and provides both the scientific data and also distills that information about whether a location is "good," "fair," or "poor," a ranking the app supplies based on federal and state water-quality guidelines.

Future versions of the app will solicit crowdsourcing from users — photos, reports and other feedback to be incorporated.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.