Monday, October 23, 2006

A New Analysis Evaluates Narragansett Bay, and the Result Isn't All That Good

Save the Bay, based in Providence, has evaluated the health of Narragansett Bay and, on a scale of 1 to 10, rated it a miserable 4.3 (miserable being my interpretation). Since 2000, the last time Save the Bay conducted a similar exercise, dissolved oxygen, the stock of bottom-feeding fish and shellfish and crustaceans, and the amount of marmful bacteria have all gotten worse.

Unfortunately Rhode Island’s politicians seem to be emulating Connecticut’s in their willful disregard for the environmental conditions. The Providence Journal reports:

In 2004, a law was passed for a 50-percent reduction of nitrogen dumping from sewer treatment plants by 2008.

Financing for the new initiatives has been uneven. In 2004, there was no initial money to finance efforts but voters approved a $20.7-million bond proposed by Carcieri. Progress stalled again in 2005 and last year when the legislature made cuts to bond proposals that would have paid for water-quality monitoring programs.


The Journal has a breakdown of the report, here, and the full report itself is here.

1 Comments:

Blogger Nan Patience said...

With all of the region's waters on life support, it's unconscionable for any of our elected officials to support any off-shore facility that could put the nail in the coffin. The entire region depends too greatly on the environmental wellbeing of the marine habitat and its aesthetic appeal, too. They should know that!! I would guess that an overwhelming majority of locals feel the environment is critical on many levels.

We all need to get behind solar!

9:04 AM  

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