News

Biology Professor makes a name for herself in the community

Trifiletti and Fava say farewell at Board of Trustees meeting: Studies find E. coli in Beaver Swamp

11.30.2007
By Kelechi Ubozoh

Monday night’s Board of Trustees meeting started at 7:30 p.m. sharp and ended with a tearful goodbye from Mamaroneck residents to Mayor Phil Trifiletti and Trustee Tony Fava.

...Before the goodbyes could be formally initiated the meeting started with a brief presentation from Dr. Anna Yeung-Cheung, a Manhattanville College assistant biology professor, about her most recent update on the findings on water and sediment on the upstream areas of Guion Creek. Dr. Cheung has studied the Harbor Island area for the past two years to check the levels of the bacteria enterococci and E. coli from the water and sediment inside and outside of the Gunderboom in comparison to the upstream areas of Guion Creek.

“So far Beaver Swamp has a high level of E. coli, and the lowest level of enterococci and E. coli is inside the Gunderboom,” said Dr. Cheung.

Her studies found that there was a significantly high density of E. coli in the water in four areas: Upper and lower Guion, Rye Neck High School, and Beaver Swamp in comparison to Harbor Island. The sediment studies showed a similar outcome and the highest densities of enterococci and E. coli were found in sediment from Beaver Swamp, Rye Neck High School, and Upper Guion creek.

“You guys are very famous because of your Gunderboom, you spent a lot of effort to clean up your harbor,” said Dr. Cheung.

Last year, Dr. Cheung found that water inside the Gunderboom had E. coli counts that were 77.9 percent lower than the water outside the boom. While Dr. Cheung and her students are still in the process of collecting more data, she said that Guion creek had been a real concern and she could not conclude on why the water and sediment had been contaminated. Many residents seemed to think the water contamination was because of a dump that had existed in Harrison, but Mayor Phil Trifiletti said that the county had spent $7 million to clean the area. Nonetheless Dr. Cheung was thrilled about the progress that the Gunderboom had made and that her studies proved its worth.