           Home > News > News Item |
||||||
 |
News Release RI Department of Environmental Management 235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908 (401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
DEM'S BAY LINE CLOSED FOR SEASON; INITIAL RESPONSE POSITIVE PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management announces that its 24-hour Bay Line telephone information line has closed for the season and will re-open prior to Memorial Day 2005 as the state's summer beach and boating season swings into high gear again.The seasonal Bay Line provides Rhode Islanders with a central telephone number to leave a recorded message about any sign of Bay-related environmental problems for appropriate follow-up, offers updates on the overall health of the Bay, and provides an opportunity for callers to pose questions about the Bay. During its initial season this year close to 60 messages were received, and many other callers listened to the weekly updates on Bay conditions. By far, most calls concerned odors and dead seaweed in the Conimicut area of Warwick. Additional seaweed and odor complaints were also received from East Providence and other areas of Warwick. General questions ranged from where to dig steamers to how to clean a beach. Callers with questions were re-contacted with information, and, in several instances, were also forwarded literature. Emergency response crews responded to odor complaints, tested for hydrogen sulfide, and, with the City of Warwick, removed decaying seaweed from a portion of the Conimicut shoreline. "Bay Line proved to be a success from the start," said Frederick Vincent, Acting Director of DEM. "It provided an effective and centralized means for efficiently exchanging Bay-related information between the public and DEM, and gave us a good and timely snapshot of Bay conditions from those who live near or work on the water. Their eyes, ears, and, sometimes, noses, coupled with increased scientific monitoring, allowed us to understand and better respond to identified problems." Reports of Bay conditions, updated weekly on Bay Line, were compiled from data provided by a network of monitoring stations in the Bay that monitored oxygen, temperature, salinity, pH levels, and, in some cases, water clarity and the presence of algae blooms. The monitoring data was supplemented by field observations made by DEM personnel. The reports indicated that cooler water temperatures this summer helped keep oxygen levels relatively high throughout the season, and helped reduce the number and extent of algae blooms. An abundance of decomposing seaweed caused odors at the mouth of the Providence River, and in the Conimicut and Sabin Point areas, locally reducing oxygen levels and resulting in the mortality of some juvenile soft shell clams. There were no significant fish kills this year. Work is on-going to compile water quality data from the multiple agencies maintaining sites in the fixed-station network in a common format for archiving and to support future analyses of water quality trends in the Bay. Bay Line is an integral part of a series of initiatives undertaken at the behest of Governor Carcieri to protect Narragansett Bay as the result of the fish kills and many beach closures experienced during the summer of 2003. Another related initiative is the new Bay Assessment and Response Team (BART) which is designed to facilitate timely and well-coordinated responses to any major Bay-related environmental emergency. Headed by Michael Mulhare, DEM's emergency response coordinator, BART includes professional staff from DEM, the Department of Health (HEALTH), and the University of Rhode Island. In another such initiative, DEM's Division of Law Enforcement conducted patrols periodically throughout the summer to check for boaters' compliance with the state's "no discharge" law, which prohibits the discharge of boat sewage into Rhode Island's waters. Officers conducted over 30 boardings and reported a high degree of compliance with the "no discharge" law; however, they did make six arrests for non-compliance and issued one written warning. The initiative will continue throughout the winter, and will be stepped up when the busy recreational boating season begins in the spring. In a related action, DEM's Office of Water Resources inspected all 56 pump-out facilities, including pump-out boats, operating at marinas throughout the state. With the exception of six facilities temporarily closed, due predominantly to mechanical difficulties, all facilities were found to be fully operational. Although the Bay Line telephone information line is closed for the season, Rhode Islanders are still encouraged to report any Bay-related problem by calling DEM's Office of Compliance and Inspection at 222-1360 on weekdays, from 8:30 to 4 p.m.; to report an environmental emergency, call DEM's 24-hour environmental police dispatch line at 222-3070. Also, Rhode Islanders can continue to find a great deal of Bay-related information, provided by the BART program, by clicking on "BART" on the homepage of DEM's website, www.dem.ri.gov. -30- |
|||||
For General Information 222-6800 • After Hours Emergencies 222-3070 • Disclaimer