Sequester could hurt local pollution reduction

Program Cuts Loom as Bay Gets Healthier

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI.org News staff

PROVIDENCE — Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island’s lakes and rivers are getting cleaner, but funding is in jeopardy for monitoring pollution and the impact of climate change on state waters.

Specifically, the monitoring of beach pollution is threatened by the $85 billion federal spending reduction known as the sequester.

Beach closings from pollution in Narragansett Bay have been declining, but the entire $212,000 summer monitoring program has been eliminated from President Obama’s most recent proposed budget.

Also threatened is funding for the state’s 30 flood gauges that measure water levels in rivers and streams. The gauges are essential for tracking the growing threat of flashfloods and river overflows.

“It’s really important for climate change,” said Janet Freedman, coastal geologist with the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC). “We could lose them all.”

Friedman was one of several speakers at the annual Watershed Counts conference April 23 at the Statehouse, where some 60 state groups contributed to a statu
s report on the Ocean State's lakes, rivers and streams and on Narragansett Bay.

The good news: Narragansett Bay is getting much healthier. Since 2003, nitrogen inflows into the bay from the state’s largest wastewater treatment plants are down 59 percent. The oxygen-choking nutrient is expected to reach a 79 percent reduction by 2014, well ahead of a 50 percent goal.

“It’s the best we’ve ever seen," said Tom Uva of the Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC).

The ongoing loss of open space in coastal areas and flood plains, however, is a major concern. 

Protecting flood-prone areas reduces the risk of flood damage and improves the overall quality of the Narragansett Bay watershed, according to state officials. Since 1995, a third of the state’s open space available for development has been lost to construction.

“How we develop land affects water quality in the bay and at beaches, which has a major impact on our economy,” said Meg Kerr, Watershed Counts co-coordinator.

The Narragansett Bay watershed covers 2,066 square miles in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Some 2,800 miles of rivers and 44,000 acres of lakes serve as natural habitats, recreation areas and drinking water supplies. More than 2 billion gallons of fresh water flow daily through the watershed, creating the Narragansett Bay estuary.