Contact: Chris Deacutis 222-3961 ext. 7270

Bob Ballou 222-4700 ext. 4420

NARRAGANSETT - Tomorrow, September 17, the Department of Environmental Management's Narragansett Bay Estuary Program and Rhode Island Sea Grant will sponsor Nutrients and Narragansett Bay: A Workshop on Nitrogen Removal for Wastewater Treatment Facilities at the University of Rhode Island's Coastal Institute in Narragansett. The media is welcome to attend.

Nutrient loadings are known to cause algae blooms, dissolved oxygen depletions, and fish kills in Narragansett Bay. The purpose of tomorrow's conference is to discuss these nutrient impacts along with methodologies for reducing nutrient loadings from wastewater treatment facilities. Three breakout sessions will focus on the issues of denitrification technologies, monitoring, and funding. DEM Director Andy McLeod will welcome the workshop participants and moderate a plenary panel discussion at the end. This plenary panel discussion, which will run from 3:30 to 4:30, will be of particular interest to reporters wishing to cover the event.