WaterFire hopes to avoid sequestration pinch

TURBULENT WATERS: A 2007 photo showing the buildup of material and low water level in a downtown waterway that can make navigation by WaterFire boats impossible. / COURTESY WATERFIRE
TURBULENT WATERS: A 2007 photo showing the buildup of material and low water level in a downtown waterway that can make navigation by WaterFire boats impossible. / COURTESY WATERFIRE

WaterFire plans to send its enchanting flames over the waterways of downtown Providence with 11 full lightings in 2013. At least that’s the schedule, the buildup to which was anything but typical this year due to added complexities of sequestration and public concern about security since the Boston Marathon bombing in April.
The trickle-down of sequestration’s mandated budget cuts has hit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and that could directly impact WaterFire.
And as it has for nearly all local public events, the deadly April 15 Boston Marathon bombing is forcing a review of security for WaterFire 2013.
WaterFire’s scrupulous attention to safety is in place every season, said WaterFire Managing Director Peter Mello.
“In light of what happened in Boston, it’s obvious that all events are reviewing their practices and making adjustments,” he said. “Security is always our highest priority. We work extremely closely with Providence police and fire and will continue to do so. We take our direction from them because it’s a public space.”
While security changes may be made going forward, they aren’t expected to impact the scheduling of events. Sequestration’s indirect effects on this year’s WaterFire are less certain.
The Army Corps provides the critical assistance of opening or closing the Fox Point Hurricane Protection Barrier in Providence. The barrier is used to manage water levels in the downtown waterways.
“This is a relatively new issue for us [assisting WaterFire]. These structures are made for flood control. They’re not made to support community events,” said Tim Dugan, spokesman for the New England district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Sometimes water levels are too low to allow the WaterFire boats to navigate.
Operation of the Providence hurricane barrier was transferred from the city to the Army Corps in 2010. “The Army Corps supported WaterFire on several occasions in 2010, on five occasions in 2011 and on seven occasions in 2012,” according to information from the Corps’ Cape Cod Canal manager, Dugan said. The Cape Cod Canal field office is responsible for operation of the Providence barrier.
“Many of these [lightings] coincide with tidal-watch events that require Corps personnel at the barrier already,” he said.
Then came 2013 and sequestration, the mandate from Washington, D.C., for federal agencies to cut expenses across the board.
“It could affect personnel and whether they can work overtime or on a weekend,” Dugan said.
WaterFire executives did their usual calculations of tides and planned lightings to determine when the low water levels in the tidal basin would need adjustment from the hurricane barrier.
“We can support the WaterFire events with the opening or closing of the hurricane barrier on May 15, May 31 and June 22,” said Dugan.
“The Corps intends to man the barrier on those dates and operate the barrier as needed for tidal watch,” he said. “There may be additional costs if there are requirements to support the events that go beyond our normal operations.”
As far as committing to other WaterFire lightings, Dugan said it is too early to say.
“We can’t project what impacts we may face for the rest of the summer and the rest of the fiscal year and how those impacts might affect operations of the barrier,” Dugan explained.
“The sequestration … was something that no one saw coming,” said WaterFire creator and Executive Artistic Director Barnaby Evans.
“The river near GTECH Corp. and Waterplace [Park] was last dredged in 1998 and it’s needed dredging since about 2006,” Evans said. “We’ve been using the hurricane barrier as a short-term solution.” “Congress directed us to study [dredging solutions] and we did and it didn’t pass the economic test. The benefits have to outweigh the cost,” said Ed O’Donnell, chief of the navigation section of the New England District Army Corps of Engineers. The study was done during the past year, he said.
“Basically, the only thing that goes up beyond the hurricane barrier, up to the basin, is just gondolas,” O’Donnell said. “You really don’t get any national economic benefits from that.”
The earliest lightings on the schedule are covered by Mother Nature’s agreeable tides and the Army Corps’ scheduled operation of the hurricane barrier. WaterFire executives still must figure out how to get the hurricane barrier manned, if needed, for lightings later in the season.
“We are a creative organization and we’re considering a range of options,” said WaterFire’s Mello.
Rhode Island leaders want to make sure WaterFire doesn’t suffer from the effects of sequestration that grounded favorites like the Navy’s Blue Angels air shows, he said.
“Everyone is working together – the city, the Corps of Engineers, our congressional delegation and Dominion [Energy New England] – to come up with a good resolution,” Mello said.
Dominion, which owns Manchester Street Power station in Providence, uses water from the river for cooling purposes, said Dominion spokesman Dan Genest.
“We’ve worked very closely with the city to arrange or change our operations if necessary,” Genest said.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., has spoken with WaterFire officials and the Corps of Engineers and will continue to work with colleagues to find ways to resolve the issue, said Reed spokesman Chip Unruh.
“It’s an example of how sequestration is creating uncertainty,” said Unruh. •

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