ALERT: If you use public water in Richmond and Hopkinton, READ THIS

Patch reports that:

"About 2,796 residents are served by the two-town water systems, the department said. 'All water used for consumption should be boiled vigorously for at least one minute,' the release said."

Enrollment now open though September 6 for Salt Pond Smart

New program to protect Rhode Island’s coastal waters

Kristen Curry

Enrollment is now open for Salt Pond Smart: a new program to protect Rhode Island’s coastal waters.

Enrollment is now open through Sept. 6 to join Salt Pond Smart, a new community engagement initiative offered through the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension. Designed for homeowners along Rhode Island’s southern coast, Salt Pond Smart empowers residents to take meaningful action to protect and improve water quality in the state’s treasured coastal salt ponds.

Aging septic systems and fertilizer use, especially in densely developed areas, contribute excess nutrients, bacteria, and other pollutants to the salt ponds. These problems have led to shellfish closures, algal blooms, and damage to the ponds’ ecosystems. Salt Pond Smart helps residents make property management decisions that reduce nutrient pollution, which is essential to safeguarding public health and preserving the ecological integrity of these fragile environments.

60% of R.I. beaches unsafe for swimming in 2024

Coastal beaches tend to be cleaner than those on the Bay

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Nearly six in 10 of the 66 Rhode Island beaches analyzed by Environment America were marked by one or more days of potentially unsafe bacteria levels in 2024. (Courtesy Environment America)

Steven Spielberg never made a cult-favorite thriller about the dangers of sewage-infested waters.

But the amount of fecal matter lurking in the water surpassed federal safety recommendations at least one time in 2024 at nearly six in 10 of the 66 Rhode Island beaches tested, new data shows.

Even more alarming: 25 state and local beaches exceeded federal water quality safety thresholds on 25% or more of the testing days, according to a report published on July 7 by Environment America’s Research & Policy Center.

 “It’s absurd in today’s society we need to be worried about crap in the water, literally,” said Rex Wilmouth, state director for the Rhode Island chapter of the nonprofit research and advocacy firm. “Even one day is one day too many.”

Wilmouth unveiled the disturbing findings at a press conference at Oakland Beach in Warwick Friday morning. The Rhode Island Department of Health closed the city-run saltwater beach on June 24 due to high bacteria counts, though it was reopened two days later. On Thursday, two other Warwick swimming areas, at City Park and Conimicut Point beaches, were closed due to high bacteria accounts detected by the Rhode Island Department of Health.

The state health department samples and tests water at state and local saltwater beaches during the summer season each year and notifies the public if unsafe bacteria levels are detected. Swimming in contaminated water can cause gastrointestinal illnesses, respiratory disease, eye and ear infections and skin rashes, with an estimated 57 million cases of illness nationwide each year. However, a majority of the illnesses go unreported.

Environment America’s report compares state and federally reported levels of fecal contamination against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s health safety threshold, or Beach Action Value, to determine which beaches may pose health risks to swimmers, and how often. 

Of the 3,187 beaches tested nationwide in 2024, 61% showed unsafe levels of contamination on at least one testing day. And one in seven of those tested were marked by dangerous levels of bacteria at least 25% of testing days.

And that’s just on days when waters were sampled — suggesting infected waterways were contaminated even more often than data suggests, Wilmouth said. Take Tiverton’s Fogland Beach, for example, which surpassed the federally recommended bacteria cap on five of seven days it was tested in 2024.

“There were a lot more days it was probably unsafe as well,” Wilmouth said. 

Other repeat offenders in 2024 included Matunuck Town Beach in South Kingstown and Jamestown’s Mackerel Cove Beach, which both exceeded recommended bacteria levels on roughly two-thirds of testing days, along with Narragansett’s members-only Dune’s Club. State-run beaches were not immune either: Scarborough State Beach North showed unsafe levels of bacteria on 38% of the 24 testing days, according to the data. 

Trump cuts hundreds of EPA grants, leaving municipalities on the hook for climate resiliency

Projects in and around Charlestown face Trump-Musk chainsaw 

Emily Jones

EDITOR'S NOTE: Federal funding to repair the storm-damaged Charlestown Breachway is being cut, if not eliminated altogether. This is an on-going story. Rep. Seth Magaziner and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse are both fighting to save the funding.  - Will Collette

Thomasville, Georgia, has a water problem. Its treatment system is far out of date, posing serious health and environmental risks.

“We have wastewater infrastructure that is old,” said Sheryl Sealy, the assistant city manager for this city of 18,881 near the Florida border, about 45 minutes from Tallahassee. “It’s critical that we do the work to replace this.”

But it’s expensive to replace. The system is especially bad in underserved parts of the city, Sealy said.

In September, Thomasville applied to get some help from the federal government, and just under four months later, the city and its partners were awarded a nearly $20 million Community Change grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to make the long-overdue wastewater improvements, build a resilience hub and health clinic, and upgrade homes in several historic neighborhoods.

“The grant itself was really a godsend for us,” Sealy said. 

In early April, as the EPA canceled grants for similar projects across the country, federal officials assured Thomasville that their funding was on track. Then on May 1, the city received a termination notice.

“We felt, you know, a little taken off guard when the bottom did let out for us,” said Sealy.

Thomasville isn’t alone. 

Under the Trump administration, the EPA has canceled or interrupted hundreds of grants aimed at improving health and severe weather preparedness because the agency “determined that the grant applications no longer support administration priorities,” according to an emailed statement to Grist.

The cuts are part of a broader gutting of federal programs aimed at furthering environmental justice, an umbrella term for the effort to help communities that have been hardest hit by pollution and other environmental issues, which often include low-income communities and communities of color. 

DC environmental group looks at the safety of Charlestown water

Environmental Working Group (EWG) includes Charlestown in national assessment of US drinking water

By Will Collette

Like much of rural Rhode Island, Charlestown does not have a public water utility – no water mains, sewers or fire hydrants. But according to a new report issued by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), Charlestown does have a surprising number of households whose drinking water comes from public sources, perhaps best thought of as community supplies.

These are shared water supplies in our fake fire districts (homeowner associations such as the Central Quonnie Fire District), trailer parks, subdivisions like Castle Rock and even the nonprofit senior affordable housing complex Churchwoods.

EWG lists 9 such systems that they identify as serving 1,869 Charlestown residents. If that number is accurate, that’s close to a quarter of our population. But if you live near any of these systems and draw your water from the same source, you might have similar findings in your own home.

According to EWG, all these systems contain toxic chemicals that cause some level of danger to public health.

Those nine systems are:

Border Hill Mobile Home Park, 75 people

Castle Rock Condominiums, 292

Central Beach Fire District, 470

Church Woods, 98

Indian Cedar Mobile Home Park, 150

Ninigret Realty, 109

Quonochontaug East Beach Water Association, 300

Shady Harbor Fire District, 300

Shannock Water District, 75

Some unspecified number of Charlestown residents may be tapped into either the South Kingstown-south Shore (e.g. Green Hill Cove) or Westerly Water Department

If you click on the link for each site, you get a breakdown of what showed up in that site’s water supply.

The most common toxics found are nitrates, PFAS and radon generally under the EPA’s legal limits. As EWG argues,

“Legal does not necessarily equal safe."

• Getting a passing grade from the federal government does not mean the water meets the latest health guidelines.
• Legal limits for contaminants in tap water have not been updated in almost 20 years.
• The best way to ensure clean tap water is to keep pollution out of source water in the first place.”

Should you care if you don’t live in a shared-water community?

Those of us with private wells probably have similar levels of chemicals in our water to nearby community water systems, especially if we are drawing from the same water source.

Charlestown water quality official Matt Dowling says that nearly all Charlestown water contains some levels of nitrates:

“Nitrate is nearly ubiquitous in groundwater, out of 360 private well sampling events across Charlestown for issuances of Certificates of Occupancy, only ~16% of nitrate samples were below the method detection limits of 0.05 mg/L.  Sources of nitrate in groundwater in Charlestown is primarily from septic system effluent (~80%). There is a significant relationship of the number of septic systems in an area to the concentration of nitrate in potable groundwater in the shallow coastal aquifers of Charlestown.” 

Matt notes that EWG’s report used a much lower trigger level than the EPA, at least for now before the Trump administration alters (or eliminates) the standard.

“The EWG has developed a guideline for which they are comparing drinking water nitrate concentrations of 0.14 mg/L which is 70 times less than the national maximum contaminant level of 10 mg/L.  They have developed this guideline based on the following 2019 finding:

“’With the meta-analysis of eight studies of drinking water nitrate and colorectal cancer, we observed a statistically significant positive association for nitrate exposure and colorectal cancer risk and calculated a one-in-one million cancer risk level of 0.14 mg/L nitrate in drinking water.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393511930218X#!’”

Matt continued, noting that his own review showed an increased cancer risk from nitrates at one-quarter of EPA’s standard:

“I have reviewed papers that find enhanced cancer risks at potable water concentrations of nitrate at 2.5 mg/L in potable water, Dowling et al 2024 stated that ‘concentrations as low as 2.5 mg/L have been shown to have adverse health effects, including different types of cancer (Nolan and Hitt 2006).’”

That’s just for nitrates. EWG found other toxic chemicals, especially PFAS, in Charlestown water supplies. PFAS are plastic-related compounds and lots of PFAS contamination got into Charlestown water from the fire-firing activity at the old Ninigret Naval Auxiliary Air Station (now Ninigret Park and the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge).

Matt said:

“I know much, much less about PFAS only that the standard is about to be reduced, and it seems that PFAS is also nearly ubiquitous.  The EWG is also using a very low guideline when compared to the current and proposed standards.  I have found that granular activated carbon filtration can be effective in removing PFAS from potable water.” 

The Trump regime isn’t helping by the recently reported shut down of EPA’s on-going effort to assess the risks of PFAS, meaning the standard probably won’t be reduced as Matt anticipated and may even be eliminated entirely.

Shoreline development’s role

The almost universal nitrate problem is a hard one to solve especially in the densely packed up-scale neighborhoods right on the coast. The two approaches with the most promise are (1) upgrade conventional septic systems to state-of-the-art denitrification systems and (2) allow no more development – no new buildings, added bedrooms or accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in those areas.

According to Matt:

At septic system densities of over 2-3 per acre (in glacial till groundwater aquifer and based on dwelling units per acre with individual OWTS where over 75% use conventional systems), we can expect to see groundwater concentrations of nitrate at Extreme Risk for source water impairment >5 mg/L. 

Over 75% of the septic systems in the coastal area use older conventional technologies that do not adequately treat nitrogen in the effluent.  We have been promoting, through grant cost sharing funding, for in-kind system replacements in this area, but the pace is slow and grant funding has dried up. [Emphasis added]

Additional housing density in the areas designated by CRMC as Lands Developed Beyond Carrying Capacity from the new ADU bill adds further pressure in reducing nitrogen impairment to groundwater (and surface water).

Even with new ADUs using nitrogen reducing technologies, they still contribute additional nitrogen loading.  In 2010 the RIDEM stated that in order for Eastern Ninigret Pond and Green Hill Pond to meet surface water quality goals, watershed nitrogen loading had to be reduced by 61%, If Charlestown facilitated the upgrade of all ~75% of the remaining conventional septic systems to modern nitrogen reducing technology as in-kind and allow no more additional bedrooms in the subwatershed that is wholly developed beyond carrying capacity in Charlestown, we could reduce total N load by 40%, not bad since there are also other mechanism to manage other N inputs like fertilizers etc.  But adding ADU to these areas reduces that %.”

What does this all mean?

First, don’t panic. There are virtually no pure and pristine water sources anywhere on the planet, especially now that PFAS pollution is being found everywhere.

I spent 20 years working with communities around the country on water protection issues. Fear of water contamination is universal and largely justified. During those 20 years, I’ve known some people who cracked under the pressure of feeling they had to come up with pure water for their families, so much so that they committed suicide. Please – don’t do that! Don’t despair because you can’t achieve the unachievable.

The more relevant questions include what contaminants and at what levels are present in your water, how do those levels compare with scientific standards and most importantly, what do YOU consider to be a reasonable risk?

For every water contaminant, especially those linked to cancer, opinions will range from higher levels preferred by industry and regulators as opposed to those held by public health experts and environmental scientists who argue that for some cancer-causing chemicals, there is no safe level.

Ultimately, you must decide what you consider acceptable for you and your family. Given the realities we all face, you may find yourself having to choose among choices that are far from perfect.

You have time to think it through. I saw nothing in EWG’s data showing any immediate threat to life.

Measures to consider include getting your water tested, installing a whole house water filter, upgrading your septic system and if you have radon in your basement, installing a venting system. Read up and do your research. Matt Dowling in Town Hall (401) 364-5030) can advise you on your options.

You can find answers to many of your questions on the town’s wastewater web page. It's loaded with links and information about water quality that can help you make informed decisions. CLICK HERE.

Open forum on Ninigret Pond improvements scheduled for November 2

Anticipated good news and bad news

By Will Collette

Photo by Will Collette

On April 2, the organizations working together on the Greater Allen's Cove and Eastern Ninigret Pond Pilot Watershed Project will host a public “listening session” on recent and hopefully future work.

The project partners include the Town of Charlestown, URI Onsite Wastewater Resource Center, Salt Ponds Coalition and Save the Bay.

Funding for this work has been provided through the EPA’s SNEP Program.

The work over the past year has included septic system upgrades, native coastal planting, and water quality monitoring.

The elephant in the room is what impact the Trump-Musk-DOGE impoundments, funding and staff cuts, and program closures will have on this work. Plus, there is the added fear of “claw-backs” where the Trump program not only turns off future funding – as they appear to have done with SNEP￬ – but also take action to take back money that has already been paid.

The Rhode Island Health Department found out last week that the Trump-Musk team intend to take back $31 million in grants already paid to the state.

The Health Department e-mailed GoLocal to explain:

"We were notified by CDC that four grants we had received to support our capacity in various areas of the Department post-COVID-19 have been terminated. While the work funded by these grants goes beyond responding to COVID-19, CDC’s cause for terminating these grants was the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

I hate to piss on the Ninigret Pond taskforce’s parade, but I see no reason to believe their work won’t get the same shabby treatment.

Here are the meeting details:

When: Wednesday, April 2, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Where: Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Road, Charlestown
Register: Please use the linked form to register for this upcoming listening session

Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank requests proposals for grants

From the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank

Attention to our city, town, and quasi-public partners: Project deadlines are fast approaching for our loan and grant funding programs and this is a friendly reminder to submit your projects for inclusion on Project Priority Lists: https://bit.ly/2025-ppl

Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank is the State’s central hub for financing infrastructure improvements for municipalities, businesses, and homeowners.

Town Council meeting is TOMORROW

 

Fellow Charlestown Residents,   The Charlestown Town Council will have their first regular meeting of the month on Tuesday, October 15th at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers. The agenda can be read here. Some important topics for the meeting are: Resolution of Respect in honor of former Town Councilor J. Michael Downey Public hearing on a proposed change to the Ordinance establishing the Wastewater Management Commission, to allow the Commission to function with as few as three members. Public hearing on the Ordinance relating to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), as required to conform with State law. Please join us at the following places and times to meet our endorsed candidates. Friday - October 11 - Rippy's Liquor and Marketplace - 4 PM to 6 PM Friday - October 18 - Rippy's Liquor and Marketplace - 4 PM to 6 PM Saturday - October 19 - Octoberfest Luncheon - hosted by the Charlestown Republican Town Committee 11:00 AM at Downey Weaver American Legion - $35 per person - More info at CharlestownRIgop.com Sunday - October 20 - Charlestown Mini-Super 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Friday - October 25 - Rippy's Liquor and Marketplace - 4 PM to 6 PM Rippy's Liquor and Marketplace is at 4158 South County Trail, Charlestown Downey Weaver American Legion is at 22 Whipple Drive, Charlestown Charlestown Mini-Super is at 4071 Old Post Road, Charlestown For more information about the candidates visit: www.charlestownresidentsunited.org #MeetTheCandidates #CRUCandidates #Charlestown" With thanks, Tim Quillen, Chair Charlestown Residents United Paid for by Charlestown Residents United P.O. Box 412 Charlestown, RI 02813 Visit our Website

The excitement never ends: two events to celebrate!

First: 

Second: 

I did not make these up.  - Editor

On the agenda for tomorrow night...

Fellow Charlestown Residents, The Charlestown Town Council will have their first regular meeting of the month on Monday, September 9 at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers. The agenda can be read here. Some important topics for the meeting are: The Town Council is considering a change in the Ordinance establishing the Wastewater Management Commission, to allow the Commission to function with as few as three members. The Town Council will be discussing changes in the Ordinances relating to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), as required to conform with State law. Continuing a discussion at the July 22 Town Council meeting, the Council will discuss other potential Ordinance changes to conform with State law. Please note that primary election voting in the state will take place on Tuesday, September 10. There are primary contests for both the Republican and Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate. Information about the voting locations, times, and sample ballots can be viewed here. Read about the CRU-supported candidates for town offices here. Also read the platform positions of our candidates here. We hope to see you at the Town Council meeting. With Thanks, Tim Quillen, Chair Charlestown Residents United Paid for by Charlestown Residents United P.O. Box 412 Charlestown, RI 02813 Visit our Website

Heavy Rains Forces Precautionary Shellfish Closure Of Harvesting Areas In South County Salt Ponds

No shellfish from Ninigret, Quonnie until next week

Photo by Will Collette

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is announcing that several shellfish areas along the south coast of Rhode Island have been closed due to inundating rainfall received in the Washington County area.

The following areas are currently closed to shellfish harvest and are scheduled to reopen to shellfishing at 12 PM on Thursday, May 23:

• 
  Pt. Judith Pond (10PJ, 10 PJ-N, and 10PJ-E)
  
• Potter Pond (10PP)
• Ninigret Pond (11N)
• Quonochontaug Pond (11Q)
• Winnapaug Pond (11W)

The heavy rain on Wednesday night dropped over four inches of rain in a 12-hour period in Washington County. Rainfall totaled 3.7” at Westerly Airport with higher localized totals in the Wakefield area. 

Quahog Study Commission Recommends Transplants, Monitoring

Save the quahogs!

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Julie Rose

More transplants, more monitoring, and maybe even more nitrogen in Narragansett Bay.

Those are the main recommendations coming from a joint legislative study commission investigating the decline of quahog catches in the bay.

The commission, which has been meeting every month since September, concluded its work during a final meeting on April 30, when it approved a final report outlining its findings and recommendations on what to do about them.

The decline of the quahog in Narragansett Bay has been something of an ontological mystery for quahoggers and bay scientists during the past two decades. The number of quahogs caught wild in bay waters has been slowly declining for much of the 20th century, not counting a pair of peaks in the 1960s and ’80s.

According to data from the Department of Environmental Management, quahog landings have declined to levels between 400,000 and 1 million pounds a year since 2005, a dip similar to those seen in other New England states. The numbers are a far cry from the more than 4 million pounds of quahogs caught at the 1982 peak.

Among the recommendations the commission voted to approve: boosting the state’s quahog transplant program to increase shellfish hatchlings in the bay; establishing more spawning sanctuaries; and developing a long-term restoration plan for the upper bay.

What’s not among the recommendations? Pledges to add more nitrogen in the bay to offset the dozen wastewater treatment plants. Heavily advocated for by shellfisherman, who view a direct link between the cleanup of the bay and the decline in quahog landings, adding nitrogen was opposed by other commission members, including DEM. 

Shellfishermen, DEM officials at odds over increasing nitrogen discharges in bay to feed quahogs

Can we save quahogs by releasing MORE wastewater?

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

Where have the quahogs gone? 

Since last September, a joint legislative study commission has been trying to answer that question and find solutions to ensure Rhode Island’s official state shell doesn’t completely disappear from Narragansett Bay.

At its peak in 1959, nearly 5 million pounds of quahogs were harvested from Rhode Island waters, according to a March 2024 report by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM). Over the past three years, that number was less than 500,000 pounds.

“The findings and recommendations that are going to come from this commission are going to steer us on that path where we are going to replenish that bay,” Co-Chair Rep. Joe Solomon, a Warwick Democrat, said during the commission’s meeting Tuesday.

But department officials and the Rhode Island Shellfisherman’s Association are at odds over recommendations to achieve a final long-term solution to bring back the population of the iconic hard-shelled clam. 

Shellfishermen want the state to permit additional nitrogen discharges from wastewater treatment facilities during the winter. Jim Boyd, one of four shellfishermen who serve on the commission, said doing so would help fertilize more phytoplankton that feed quahogs.