The Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan, established under local law 71 of 2005, outlines a multi-year, multi-agency and multi-faceted strategy to restore and maintain the water quality and ecological integrity of Jamaica Bay.
New York City has been collecting water quality data in New York Harbor since 1909. These data are utilzed by regulators, scientists, educators and citizens to assess impacts, trends and improvements in the water quality of New York Harbor. Today the Harbor Survey Program is managed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.