E.P.A. Nod for Water Work

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has honored Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences for his research on Long Island’s water quality problems. On Friday Dr. Gobler received an Environmental Champion award, which recognizes individuals dedicated to protecting public health and the environment in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand nominated Dr. Gobler for the award.

A marine biologist and leading researcher on the harmful algal blooms that have become common in Long Island’s coastal waters, Dr. Gobler was enlisted by the East Hampton Town Trustees in 2013 to perform water quality testing of waterways under trustee jurisdiction. More recently, the Friends of Georgica Pond foundation, a group of property owners at the East Hampton pond that experienced dense outbreaks of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, in 2014 and ’15, hired Dr. Gobler to assist in their efforts to restore the pond’s ecological health.

Dr. Gobler runs a research lab at Stony Brook’s Southampton campus, where he and his colleagues investigate brown tides, fishery collapse, and the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. He also helped to develop the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan and is working with Suffolk County to address how septic systems and cesspools are contributing to the area’s nitrogen pollution problem.