Report: Upper Narragansett Bay improving, but more work needed

NARRAGANSETT BAY and its watershed may be improving, but challenges remain in urban areas, according to the fifth annual Watershed Counts report released Monday. / COURTESY WATERSHED COUNTS
NARRAGANSETT BAY and its watershed may be improving, but challenges remain in urban areas, according to the fifth annual Watershed Counts report released Monday. / COURTESY WATERSHED COUNTS

PROVIDENCE – Narragansett Bay and its watershed may be improving, but challenges remain in urban areas, according to the fifth annual Watershed Counts report released Monday.
The report, which says site-specific efforts to address urban water quality are seeing progress, studies the land and water resources of the Narragansett Bay region.
“The urban projects featured in this yearly report can and should help drive more, broader and integrated initiatives in upper Narragansett Bay,” Tom Borden, program director of the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, which coordinates the annual report along with the Coastal Institute at the University of Rhode Island, said in a statement. “The benefits to residents of Rhode Island and Massachusetts are not only environmental and societal, but have a direct link to enhancing the region’s economy. And since the heaviest pressures and impacts on the Narragansett Bay watershed come from its most populated areas, that is where the greatest challenges lie and need to be taken on.”
Cities and urbanized areas throughout the watershed affect water quality of upper Narragansett Bay, including Taunton and Fall River in Massachusetts, and Providence and Pawtucket. The report said water quality is impacted by runoff carrying pollutants and harmful bacteria, preventing some urban waters from being safely fishable or swimmable.
A news release about the report blamed development patterns on increased flooding and beach closings.

“While the health of the bay as a whole continues to improve and we’ve made great progress in cleaning up the Upper Bay, our urban waters lack public access and continue to experience poor water quality conditions during much of the year,” Jonathan Stone, executive director of Save The Bay, one of the Watershed Counts partners, said in prepared remarks. “Improving public access and reducing polluted run-off remain important priorities along the Providence and Seekonk rivers. We are excited about ongoing efforts to open a public swimming beach at Sabin Point and to build a new public pier at Fields Point. Both projects serve as models for future progress.”
Nicole Rohr, assistant director of the Coastal Institute, said watershed partners are making investments “that have important local impacts, but these isolated efforts need help to take on the big issues such as improving water quality and adapting to climate change.”
“Unfortunately, the scale of effort that is needed is not currently in development, but more elected and appointed leaders are starting to make the important link between the environment and the economy,” Rohr sad.
The release said that two-thirds of the Narragansett Bay watershed is in Massachusetts, and noted that improvements in wastewater treatment plants in the Bay State, and dam removals, have improved water quality and the aquatic habitat, as well as decreased the flooding risk.
Watershed Counts is a coalition of more than 60 nonprofit entities, government agencies, academic institutions and other organizations who work together to report on land and water resources of the Narragansett Bay region. It is co-coordinated by the URI Coastal Institute and the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program.
The report can be found HERE.

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