Summer Stresses Out Bottom of Narragansett Bay

By FRANK CARINI/ecoRI News staff

“Fish need oxygen too,” read the bold, blue letters across Christopher Deacutis’ gray T-shirt as he helped haul up the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program’s $22,000 Sea-Bird — a 50-pound, cylindrical oxygen sensor.

It was the first day of September and Deacutis, the chief scientist for the estuary program, and his team of assistants — Lesley Lambert, Tim Delp and Heather Stoffel — were using the high-tech piece of equipment to record oxygen levels, temperatures and salinity, among other things, at 29 specific locations across Narragansett Bay.

The oxygen readings at the bottom of Greenwich Bay were, as expected, troubling.

Dissolved oxygen is necessary to sustain life in any estuarine system. In aquatic ecosystems, low levels — referred to as hypoxia — usually mean a concentration of 2 to 3 milligrams of oxygen per liter of water.

The saturation levels of dissolved oxygen in Narragansett Bay are typically 6 to 8 milligrams per liter, according to studies.

On this day, the bottom of Greenwich Bay was averaging about 1 milligram of oxygen per liter of water. At a bottom location in Greenwich Cove, just offshore from the East Greenwich wastewater treatment plant, the Sea-Bird recorded an oxygen reading of 0.4.

“There’s definitely no fish down there,” Deacutis said as he and Delp pulled the 5-year-old Sea-Bird from the water. “Anything below three starts causing stress. Below one milligram, you start killing things — fast.”

Mobile marine animals, such as adult fish, can often survive hypoxia by moving into oxygenated waters. When they can’t, such as when young fish need to spend time in a habitat that has become hypoxic, the result is a fish kill.

More than six years ago, Narragansett Bay experienced what many believe to be the worst fish kill in these waters in the past 50 years. More than a million fish, primarily juvenile menhaden, floated to the surface on Aug. 20, 2003.

Hundreds of small crabs, blue crabs, grass shrimp, blackfish, horseshoe crabs and American eels also suffocated.

Two other times in the past nine years — 2001 and 2006 — Narragansett Bay has experienced large fish kills because of a lack of oxygen in the water.

While the direct effect of hypoxia is fish kills, such events also deplete valuable fish stocks, damage the ecosystem and hurt the tourism industry.

So massive was the 2003 fish kill, that it grabbed the attention of Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and state legislators who responded by establishing committees to study the issue of hypoxia and what can be done to control it.

Summertime blues
Summer in particular is a stressful three months for the waters of Narragansett Bay, as heavy rains and warm temperatures create nasty conditions for marine life, especially for bottom-dwelling species.

These conditions combined with excess nutrients, specifically nitrogen, deplete oxygen, cause algae blooms and devastate fragile ecosystems.

A decade ago, Deacutis was one of the first to introduce evidence that low levels of dissolved oxygen were degrading the integrity of Narragansett Bay. Deacutis presented his findings in 1998, and since then a group of scientists, researchers and volunteers have been monitoring the bay’s oxygen levels every summer.

The oxygen levels fluctuate depending on many factors, most notably rain, temperature and wind strength and direction, but low levels are routinely recorded from mid-June to mid-September at the western edge of Greenwich Bay and in the Providence River.

“The worst water is on the bottom,” Deacutis said. “The oxygen at the bottom is used up quickly until a big event like a storm mixes everything up.”

Until then, however, life at the bottom of certain areas of the bay can be a struggle for such species as scallops, soft-shell clams, blue mussels, razor clams and shrimp.

“Sensitive species are fine until the summer turns the water nasty,” said Deacutis, who has a Ph.D. in oceanography. “Quahogs are fine year-round because they can hold their breath for a month, but soft-cell crabs can only hold their breath for two weeks and scallops for about an hour.”

Problems caused by low oxygen levels are exacerbated by stormwater runoff and effluent from wastewater treatment facilities and septic systems that contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus.

Nitrogen and nutrient pollution remain the single greatest threat to the ecological health of Narragansett Bay, according to Jonathan Stone, executive director of Save The Bay.

Algae thrive in waters that contain excess nutrients. These tiny, single-celled plants bloom in huge numbers, coloring the water and decreasing its clarity. Algae typically live for only a few days to a week and then sink to the bottom, where oxygen-sucking bacteria feed on the dead matter that has blanketed the bottom.

It’s a vicious cycle that has created places, such as the bottom of Greenwich Bay, that are a barren wasteland for much of the year.

“Until the early 1950s, there was just summer housing along (Greenwich) bay,” Deacutis said. “Now a high density of year-round housing with sub-par septic systems is loading up the bay with nutrients. Sandy soil in the area allows the stuff to flow quickly into the bay.”

Since oxygen levels typically are lowest in estuaries and coastal areas, where the water is poorly mixed and where harmful runoff is collected, nursery habitat for fish and shellfish often is affected. Without nursery grounds, young marine life can’t find the food or habitat it needs to reach adulthood.

This type of oxygen-deprived, nutrient-rich environment can quickly weaken, reduce or kill off important fish and shellfish stocks.

Greenwich Bay was once one of the richest bay scallop areas in Rhode Island. It’s no coincidence that today it lacks a significant scallop population and has no substantial eelgrass beds.

Survey says
In 1999, less than a year after Deacutis introduced evidence of the bay’s low oxygen levels, the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program organized a volunteer effort to investigate summertime oxygen levels.

For the past 10 years, a collaborative group of scientists and environmental professionals — dubbed “The Insomniacs” because they used to work at night — from the estuary program, the University of Rhode Island, Brown University and Roger Williams University have been collecting data from the same 75 locations throughout Narragansett Bay.

The positions were chosen based on various depths and in a pattern that allowed “us to map across a large area,” Deacutis said.

Teams in two to three boats take readings at the 75 sites six times a year — once in June and September and twice in July and August.

The first five years of this summertime survey were conducted with volunteers. There were no funds — federal, state or otherwise. There wasn’t even gas money for the boats.

For the past five years, the project has been funded through a shared federal grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The project costs about $40,000 annually and Deacutis said there is enough money to fund the work through next summer.

Since 2004, The Insomniac project has worked in tandem with a study being coordinated by six agencies, including the Narragansett Bay Commission, Save The Bay and the Department of Environmental Management.

Monitoring stations attached to 13 buoys around Narragansett Bay are fitted with instruments that collect water-quality data every 15 minutes. These buoys collect similar information — temperature, salinity, chlorophyll and dissolved oxygen — as the 75 Insomniac sites but in different parts of the bay.

“The further you go down the bay, the better the oxygen levels get at the bottom,” said Stoffel, a marine research assistant at URI. “Off Prudence Island and at the tip of Newport there are better oxygen levels because oceanic waters are coming into the bay there.”

With federal money in short supply, however, Deacutis is worried about the future of his survey work and the meaning of 10 years’ worth of data.

“If the federal money disappears, the monitoring stops,” he said. “We lose our ability to interpret change. Was it a freak event, part of a cycle, are things getting better or are they getting worse?

“It’s like taking medication for high blood pressure but then never taking your blood pressure again. Is the medicine working? Do we increase or decrease the dosage? Monitoring lets us know if management is working.”

Currents of Change Sweep Through the Bay

By FRANK CARINI/ecoRI News staff

For centuries, those who have lived and worked within the Narragansett Bay watershed have tailored the valuable ecosystem to suit their needs.

Native Americans burned forest underbrush to create farmland. Colonists cleared forests for fuel.

Dams have been built on nearly every waterway — first to power sawmills and gristmills, later to power factories and then to develop drinking-water reservoirs.

In 1793, Samuel Slater built a water-powered textile mill on the Blackstone River in Pawtucket. It was the first successful power mill built in the United States, marked the beginning of the nation’s Industrial Revolution and spawned a burgeoning local manufacturing economy made possible by Narragansett Bay’s rivers and ports.

Shorelines have been developed for transportation, military, energy and commercial purposes. Railroads and bridges have been built on, around and across the bay, and, as cities and towns grew, streams became stormwater pipes and wastewater treatment plants were built to handle the demands of 2 million people who live in the Narragansett Bay watershed.

Today, land-use management is among the highest of priorities for local environmentalists.

“Taking down habitat for development is a growing trend,” said Richard Ribb, program director for the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program. “Fourteen percent of the entire Narragansett Bay watershed is impervious.”

Hard surfaces, such as asphalt, concrete and roofing, and soils compacted by urban development don’t allow water to seep into the ground. Water that doesn’t soak into the ground becomes runoff and travels to the nearest body of water, usually carrying pollutants and debris.

As the amount of impervious surfaces increases, typically through construction and development, more runoff is created and less water is able to sink into the ground. Infiltration is important because groundwater travels slowly to creeks and streams and sustains their flows through drier spells. Water that travels slowly through the ground also gets filtered before dumping into a waterway.

In Rhode Island, where development is outpacing population growth by 9 percent, according to Ribb, that carries added significance since 75 percent of the population lives in a 40-mile-long urban/suburban corridor along the shores of Narragansett Bay and in the valleys of the Blackstone and Pawtuxet rivers.

The Rhode Island Statewide Planning Program has projected development will consume an additional 107,000 acres in the next 20 years.

To soften the environmental impacts caused by this predicted development, organizations such as the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, the Narragansett Bay Research Reserve and Grow Smart Rhode Island, among a host of others, are promoting proactive planning and smarter growth techniques, such as reducing road widths and building fewer parking lots.

Land-use planning and low-impact development are being touted as key initiatives that will help lessen the environmental impacts of sprawl.

“We’re not going to stop development, but we can’t continue to cut down forests,” said Jennifer West, the coastal training program coordinator for the Narragansett Bay Research Reserve.

The University of Rhode Island graduate helps decision-makers better understand the connections between development and its effects on the bay. Her priority audience is municipal officials, including planning boards and town and city councils.

“We hope to help municipal officials and developers make better land-use decisions,” West said. “We hope to show decision-makers that growth should be concentrated to those areas that make the most sense. Development anywhere impacts the bay. Development in Woonsocket impacts the bay.”

Rhode Island’s 39 cities and towns have adopted or drafted a comprehensive development ordinance.

More environmentally conscious development comes with many advantages, West said. They include preserving land without having to buy it, preserving aesthetic features and scenic views, and reducing stormwater runoff.

“We’ve been building out the landscape for 300 years and that has a cumulative impact on this watershed,” said Tom Ardito, outreach and policy coordinator for the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program.

Growth pressures
To better deal with development, Rhode Island needs improved measures for controlling growth pressures, according to Ardito.

“Other states are more advanced when it comes to treating runoff in a more effective way,” said Ardito, who mentioned Florida and Oregon as two such states. “Tons of runoff gets through our existing infrastructure.”

He suggested using more of Rhode Island’s federal stimulus money on wastewater technology and infrastructure, instead of on old standbys.

“Repaving projects aren’t green and they don’t create that many jobs,” he said.

To help officials and the public better understand the bay region and the impact development has on it, the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program created “Currents of Change,” a study released last month after two years of research.

The estuary program worked with host of agencies and individuals in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts who share a stake in protecting this vast watershed.

“You always hear about how the bay is one of the most studied places,” Ribb said, “but these were individual studies and none of them were connected. There was no movie of the bay.”

He hopes “Currents of Change” provides a starting point for better developing and managing information about the Narragansett Bay region, which includes the Wood-Pawcatuck river system and Rhode Island’s coastal salt ponds.

This region is 2,066 square miles, with 50 percent in Massachusetts, 48 percent in Rhode Island and 2 percent in Connecticut.

“We need to look at the region as a whole, not just as a body of water but as an ecosystem, and see how everything is connected,” Ribb said. “Holding the line is progress because we don’t know all the conditions. The information is changing over time.”

Changing concerns
In just the past three-plus decades, water quality in the Narragansett Bay region has improved, thanks to investments in wastewater infrastructure, tighter state and federal regulations, industry changes and a shift in the economy.

“The levels of metals and organics from industry have gone down,” said Chris Deacutis, chief scientist for the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, “and hydrocarbons are decreasing.”

Narragansett Bay waterways are being contaminated with less of these pollutants for a number of reasons.

Leaded gasoline is gone, and cars run cleaner and leak less oil.

Textile mills along the banks of the Blackstone River have all but disappeared, taking with them the dyes and chemicals that were spilled for nearly a century into Rhode Island and Massachusetts waterways.

Restaurants and residential/office space are the new faces of the 25-block Jewelry District in Providence, which at its peak in 1976 employed 32,500 jewelry workers. Most of those jobs have long since disappeared, along with the industry’s heavy metals and toxins that would find their way into the Providence River.

Despite these gains, however, the Narragansett Bay watershed still faces a host of troubles, from the growing emergence of invasive species to pressures caused by development to what impact chemicals in the water from the increased use of pharmaceuticals, birth control and beauty products will have on the long-term health of wildlife and humans.

“We have made a remarkable improvement in the health of Narragansett Bay by addressing our deficient combined sewer overflow system and minimizing nitrogen discharges, but we have a long way to go,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said a water infrastructure hearing earlier this month in Providence.

Pollution Problems Dog Mount Hope Bay

By FRANK CARINI/ecoRI News staff

BRISTOL — Pollution from a variety of sources in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts continues to contaminate Mount Hope Bay and the Kickemuit River, and often forces areas to be closed to shellfishing and swimming.

Last year, both bodies of water were placed on the Clean Water Act’s annual list of impaired waterways because of one or more water quality issues.

The state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) recently completed a federally mandated water quality restoration study that addresses long-standing bacteria-related impairments to Mount Hope Bay and the Kickemuit River estuary.

Mount Hope Bay, which forms the northeast corner of the Narragansett Bay estuary, and its tributaries, including the Kickemuit, Lee, Coles, Quequechan and Taunton rivers, exhibit elevated levels of fecal coliform bacteria, particularly after heavy rains. Elevated levels of fecal coliform bacteria impair recreational uses in the bay and cause the frequent closure of shellfishing beds following a half-inch or more of rain.

Pollution from stormwater runoff, combined sewer overflows (CSO), failing and improperly maintained septic systems and leaking sewer lines forces the closure of approved shellfishing areas within Mount Hope Bay and the Kickemuit River estuary to shellfish harvesting on an average of 180 days per year as a result of bacterial contamination, according to DEM officials.

In 2006, the DEM took 500 samples from Mount Hope Bay during both dry and wet weather. The difference in water quality is distinctly noticeable.

“After heavy rain events, sanitary quality in the area markedly and quickly deteriorates,” said Brian Zalewsky, of the DEM’s Office of Water Resources. “A majority of the pollution comes from Fall River down the Taunton River. But we do have some sources in Rhode Island that need to be addressed.”

Among those local sources in the Mount Hope Bay watershed contributing to the problem are failed septic systems and substandard cesspools, most notably in North Tiverton, and leaking sewer lines in Bristol and Warren, according to the DEM.

Sampling conducted during wet weather by DEM’s Office of Water Resources and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries also found that stormwater outfall pipes at various locations around the bay contribute to localized degradation of water quality.

A 24-inch culvert on Robert Gray Avenue, for example, is a big source of pollution during wet and dry weather.

Both the DEM and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection are preparing reports to address the Mount Hope Bay watershed’s contamination problems.

Although more than 70 percent of Mount Hope Bay is in Rhode Island, more than 90 percent of its drainage basin is in Massachusetts. CSOs from Fall River, Mass., are the largest source of fecal bacteria into Mount Hope Bay during heavy rains, according to the recent draft study. However, ongoing construction of facilities in Fall River to store and treat its CSO has begun to mitigate this source of contamination.

The city of Fall River features a sewer system with about 180 miles of sewer line and 11 pump stations. Heavy rains cause frequent CSOs at 19 locations throughout the city that discharge into Mount Hope Bay, the Taunton River and the Quequechan River.

It has been estimated that historically, at least until the operation of the Fall River storage tunnel, about 1.5 billion gallons of stormwater and untreated and/or partially treated sewage were discharged annually into Mount Hope Bay. This was the largest source of fecal coliform bacteria into the bay during wet weather, according to previous studies.

Additionally, during the past decade, a number of municipalities within the Taunton River watershed have implemented measures to address sewage discharges. Taunton, for example, made upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant in both 2001 and ’02. As a result, the number of CSO events there has dropped.

Despite the ongoing efforts of the 10 Massachusetts communities and five Rhode Island communities located partially or primarily within the Mount Hope Bay watershed, pollution remains a problem.

More than 100 types of pathogenic microorganisms can be present in water that is polluted by fecal matter (typically animal waste) and/or phage (its presence is more indicative of human waste than animal) and can cause outbreaks of waterborne disease, according to the DEM’s 2009 draft report.

In order to meet federal water quality standards during both dry and wet weather, significant reductions in identified sources of contamination must be accomplished, according to the DEM. The states’ two studies will establish requirements for those pollution sources.

These recommendations will complement existing pollution reduction efforts in the Mount Hope Bay watershed, such as the Fall River CSO abatement project and stormwater management programs being implemented by cities and towns throughout the region, according to the report.

Discouraging Trends About Bay’s Health

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff

Brown University assistant research professor and geologist Steven Clemens gets help from his daughter Sara during a recent study of Narragansett Bay. (Tim Faulkner/ecoRI staff)A midsummer checkup confirmed a few, mostly discouraging, trends about the health of Narragansett Bay.

Equipped with submersible Sea-Bird monitoring devices, observers from Save The Bay, along with Brown University scientists and students, recently crisscrossed the bay in three boats, taking measurements of the water’s salinity, temperature and oxygen content.

The collaborative project, which includes considerable support from the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, conducts the surveys as part of an 11-year study of dozens of areas with low levels of dissolved oxygen. It also aims to determine if hundreds of millions of dollars spent upgrading wastewater treatment facilities and managing stormwater runoff are improving the state’s complex aquatic ecosystem.

“There is very little actual water quality monitoring that is going on,” said Save The Bay’s John Torgan. The bimonthly surveys, he added, are “the best real-time information on the health of the bay.”

Data gathered by a crew in upper Narragansett Bay, from Warwick and Barrington up into the Seekonk River in Providence, underscored the chronic hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, that has been suffocating sea life in recent years.

Although cooler and deeper water tends to hold more life-sustaining oxygen, these lower depths were generally lacking air because of excessive decay of organic matter, infrequent surface winds and higher-than-average temperatures, research suggests.

“All the upper bay fishing stations are hot and dead. They’re pretty lifeless; there’s nothing going on there,” Torgan said.

The warmer water temperatures in Rhode Island may be preferable for recreational boating and swimming, but they are tough on sea life. A real-time reading of 76.3 degrees near the Pomham Rock lighthouse in Riverside elicits a “Yecck!” from Torgan. Followed by “it’s warm,” from Steven Clemens, a geologist and assistant research professor at Brown.

Soon after, an oxygen reading of zero, the lowest of the summer, is recorded in a shallow region a few hundred yards from Save The Bay’s waterfront headquarters.

“When it gets to zero, it’s called anoxic, not suitable for anything, as bad as it gets,” Torgan said.

Fortunately, the hypoxic conditions are seasonal and sea life is expected to return when water temperatures drop later in the year. Yet as summer heat takes hold, the habitat becomes less hospitable for fish and lobster, while other marine species, such as blue crab, thrive. Blue crabs are common in warmer waters and habitats with lots of rain such as Chesapeake Bay. “No one can ever remember seeing as many (blue crab) as we’re seeing this year,” Torgan said.

During breaks between hauling the 50-pound Sea-Bird in and out of the water, Clemens explained how global warming alters sea life. His years of studying carbon dioxide trapped in soil and ice samples show that the planet is warming more rapidly than at any point in the past 800,000 years. The numbers, he said, prove that manmade carbon dioxide has increased global warming at a rate 40 to 50 times faster than naturally occurring climate ebb and flows.

“Certainly, carbon dioxide is driving the change in temperature,” he said.

As the high-tech equipment was packed up and headed back to a Brown University science lab for further study, Torgan summed up what he’s observed during his six surveys this spring and summer.

“We’re seeing warmer water, lower oxygen, more algae blooms,” he said. While that’s trouble for the ecosystem in and around the northern half of Narragansett Bay, the lower portions have maintained more sea life thanks to cooler water temperatures, he added.

“As expected, the worst is in the upper bay,” Torgan said.

Wildlife, however, isn’t completely absent from upper Narragansett Bay. Along with countless minnows, osprey were seen feeding on a school of menhaden during a recent Save The Bay cruise. A porpoise and seal also were sighted in recent weeks.

With 10 years of data to draw from, Clemens said, the next five years of research in Narragansett Bay will be examined closely to see if stormwater runoff management and sewer system upgrades are improving life above and below the water. New studies also are underway to determine if low oxygen readings are the exception or an inevitable natural occurrence.

“The zeros, we’re used to them,” Clemens said. “They may be shocking to some people, but I don’t think we saw anything out of the ordinary from the last 10 years.”

Oceans on Acid: It's a Problem

By FRANK CARINI/ecoRI News staff

The world’s oceans can’t keep pace with our ravenous fossil-fuel addiction. After decades of absorbing nearly one-third of excess atmospheric carbon dioxide, the planet’s seas are suffering from acid reflux.

Seawater is naturally alkaline, with a healthy pH that ranges from 7.8 to 8.5 — 7 is neutral. But with a daily intake of 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, these waters are no longer strong enough to handle the acid. Ocean acidification — a change in pH accelerated by the absorption of carbon dioxide by seawater — isn’t turning saltwater into hydrochloric acid, but it can have a profound effect on marine life.

When ocean waters absorb carbon dioxide, carbonic acid — the same acid that gives soda its fizz — is formed. This acid dissolves the shells of zooplankton, mollusks and crustaceans, leaving the foundation of the marine food web vulnerable. More carbon dioxide in the oceans means slower growth, thinner and more fragile shells and poor reproduction in shellfish.

The corrosion of shellfish caused by increased carbon dioxide in the water will reduce U.S. shellfish production 10 percent to 25 percent in the next five decades, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

“The current rapid rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, due to our intensive burning of fossil fuels for energy, is fundamentally changing the chemistry of the sea,” Scott Doney, a senior scientist at Woods Hole, wrote in testimony he presented to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Science and Technology during a hearing in 2008 on the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act. “Acidification threatens a wide-range of marine organisms, from microscopic plankton and shellfish to massive coral reefs, as well as the food webs that depend upon these shell-forming species. Rising carbon dioxide levels will also alter a host of other marine biological and geochemical processes. Ocean acidification is a critical issue for the 21st century.”

The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act passed in the House and Senate a year later. The act authorized funding for ocean acidification research for fiscal 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, at $14 million, $20 million, $27 million and $35 million, respectively.

During the past 250 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased by nearly 40 percent, in large part because of fossil-fuel combustion and deforestation, according to Doney.

The areas most sensitive to acidification are the subpolar North Pacific, the Southern Ocean and along the Pacific continental shelf. But, according to Chris Deacutis, chief scientist for the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, all coastal areas will experience the impacts of ocean acidification.

“Originally, it was thought that it would mainly impact certain oceanic carbonate plankton species and tropical coral reefs, which are dependent on precipitation of calcium carbonate into the coral reef structure,” he wrote in a recent e-mail. “The lower — more acidic — the pH, the harder it is for shell-covered organisms to precipitate calcium carbonate out of the seawater.

“More recent work is finding the aquaculture oyster industry in the Pacific Northwest seems to be failing because of this problem, so the impacts are probably not going to be confined to coral reefs alone. We’re talking only small pH changes toward the ‘acid’ end, dropping a small amount of only 0.1-0.3 pH units — say going from say 8 to 7.8. This change is apparently enough to cause major problems for certain organisms that need to precipitate a shell out of the calcium carbonate dissolved in seawater.”

In Rhode Island, Narragansett Bay has strong pH changes due to algae blooms, according to Deacutis. Such blooms make the pH level go up versus down, because they remove carbon dioxide during photosynthesis.

“I’m not aware of any data showing we are definitely seeing (acidification) impacts in Narragansett Bay,” Deacutis wrote in the e-mail, “but there is now good evidence of problems in the Pacific Northwest where deep ocean water comes up.”

Some scientists believe acidification is likely to blame for die-offs in Northwest oyster stocks during the past several years.

It is one of the most critical threats to water quality right now, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

Oceana, an international organization focused solely on ocean conservation, says acidification could cause vast changes in the oceans, ranging from a mass extinction of coral reefs to a collapse of the marine food web. The organization predicts that by the middle to end of this century, parts of the oceans will be corrosive enough that they will cause already formed calcium carbonate to dissolve.

Ocean acidification will be a problem for some time, Doney testified, because it takes centuries to thousands of years for natural processes to remove excess carbon dioxide from the air.

In fact, Doney told the House committee, that the consequences of acidification will extend well beyond the fate of any particular marine species. Acidification impacts processes fundamental to the overall structure and function of marine ecosystems, and any significant changes could have far-reaching impacts on the future of ocean food webs, he testified.

Acidification could also impact the millions of people that depend on the oceans for food and jobs. Fish and marine organisms provided, on average, 15 percent of the world’s protein. Americans alone spend about $60 billion annually on fish and shellfish. And reef losses would expose low-lying settlements and biologically diverse regions to storm and wave damage.

Saving The Bays

EPA Regional Administrator Curt Spalding, left, Save The Bay Director Jonathan Stone, center, and Will Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, at Save The Bay's annual meeting in Newport. (Tim Faulkner/ecoRI News staff)By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff

NEWPORT — Narragansett Bay isn't the only body of water in need of saving.

Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, also depends on an ongoing campaign of environmental protection and restoration.

Will Baker, president of the of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) — the Save The Bay of Maryland, Virginia and four other states — noted the similarities between the two organizations during Save The Bay's annual meeting last week.

Chesapeake Bay and its massive 64,000-square-mile watershed suffers from inflows of the same human-induced pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorous that have killed and altered habitats in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Harm to shellfish and other plant and sea life from climate change and wastewaste and stormwater has occurred in both regions. But runoff from large agricultural regions, particularly in southern Pennsylvania, contain toxic levels of pesticides and fertilizers contaminating drinking water while creating dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay.

Yet, farms, Baker said, are still preferable to asphalt-covered retail centers and office parks. "A farm that's not performing well can be improved. A shopping center ... will be like that forever."

CBF has the nation's capitol in its watershed. And politics, Baker explained, plays a big part in advancing environmental policy in the region. At the state level, bipartisan support is common in passing bills to protect the Chesapeake Bay, as proven by recent state restrictions on chemical lawn fertilizers in Maryland and Virginia.

Baker is also heartened by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, whom he called "an absolute inspiration."

But Washington, he said, is in the midst of "a new era of polarization." The Republican-led denial of climate change and insistence on slashing funding and oversight of the EPA has halted environmental legislation. It's a policy shift that wouldn't have pleased one of Rhode Island's and the GOP's strongest environment advocates. "John Chafee is rolling over in his grave," Baker said.

Big business and its supporters also play a big role in legislation, killing health and environmental bills that threaten short-term profits, such as stopping regulation of fertilizer and chemical runoff into the Mississippi River. The result is a lifeless dead zone the size of Massachusetts in the Gulf of Mexico, a process that Baker said is much larger and detrimental than the Gulf oil spill of 2010. "And we get called radical" for trying to enforce the Clean Water Act through the EPA, he said.

Turning the tide in favor of improved environmental management requires voters to stand up and say "enough, cut it out" to their elected officials, Baker said. "We absolutely cannot accept dirty water (and) polluted rivers."

Both Save The Bay and CFB face significant budget cuts in federal funds. Save The Bay has already lost $1 million in federal education funding and has cut a third of its staff. The CBF is looking at similar budget reductions, which will also likely curtail environmental education. Without these programs, which Baker described as "the best long-term investment" for both organizations, these ecosystems face a more challenging future.

"It seems to me, these are the best of time and worst of times," he said.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Year founded: 1967.
Approximate members: 200,000.
Watershed area: 64,000 square miles in six states.
Shoreline: 11,684 miles.
Bay length: 200 miles.

Save The Bay

Year founded: 1970.
Approximate members: 6,500.
Watershed area: 1,853 square miles in two states.
Shoreline: 256 miles.
Bay length: 25 miles.

Get Used to Hot Water in Narragansett Bay

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff

If the world’s ice sheets completely melted, enough water would be added to the global oceans to raise sea level by 220 feet. This would drastically reshape the geography of southern New England, as shown in the above map. (Image courtesy of the University of Rhode Island)The latest heat wave isn't just roasting people and their cars, it's also turning up the temperature in Narragansett Bay.

As Providence notched 101 degrees Friday, surface temperatures in the upper bay hit 85 degrees, well above the average and well ahead of the peak dog days of summer. Folks at the Narragansett Bay Commission say water temperatures could still increase as the seasonal flow of warm currents from the Gulf Stream to Rhode Island peak in August.

So far the latest hot spell has been tough on sea life, like fish and clams, by stifling oxygen levels. But the bathtub temps haven't triggered algae blooms or the large fish kills seen in recent years.

"We haven't seen any heat-related phenomenon at this point," said John Torgan, baykeeper for Save The Bay. "(But), it would not surprise me to see algae blooms and small-scale clam kills."

Warmer water also alters the bay's habitat, making it less hospitable for sea life such as lobster and winter flounder. Higher temperatures also stress eelgrass beds, which grow best in cool, clean water.

The combined sewer overflow project in the upper bay is helping reduce pollution from stormwater runoff. Already fishing supplies are higher while quahoging restrictions have been eased in parts of the bay. 

The record heat, however, is confirming the long-term trend of warmer weather for Rhode Island. Since 1895, the average temperature in Providence has risen 4 degrees. The local warming also has increased annual precipitation by nearly a foot during the past century, and rain and snow is expected to increase another 20 percent to 30 percent by 2100.

"And that has a lot to do with climate change," said Thomas Uva, of the Narragansett Bay Commission. "It's real when you look at the data, it's hard to dispute."

Scientists predict that the further melting of glacial ice sheets along with warmer (expanding) water will lead to a sea level rise between 3 inches to 5 feet for the bay during the current century. A 2008 report by the Coastal Resource Management Council predicts higher sea levels coupled with more stormwater runoff will lead to extensive erosion and severe loss of beaches, coastal habitat and inland land. Drinking water will be contaminated as salt leaches into aquifers. Higher water tables will stress wastewater treatment plants. And expect a greater frequency of events such as the March 2010 flood.

Rhode Island is already making plans to address global warming reductions along with adaptation strategies to strengthen and improve infrastructure for harsher weather.

But even if sudden, drastic steps are taken to lower the Earth's temperature, stable, cooler weather and water will not be back for a long time, according to a 2007 study by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

"Due to the timescales associated with climate processes and feedbacks, anthropogenic warming and sea level rise will continue for centuries regardless of steps taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions," the report stated.

Dolphins Spotted in Upper Bay

By eocRI News staff

Bottlenose dolphins were spotted enjoying an early-afternoon meal off Fields Point in Providence on Thursday (Photo courtesy of Save The Bay)PROVIDENCE — It was a terrible day for a swim, unless you happen to be a dolphin.

A pod of bottlenose dolphins, seemingly oblivious to the cold, rainy weather, traveled through parts of upper Narragansett Bay on Thursday. It was a rare sight for this once heavily-polluted waterway.

"I've never seen them that far north in the bay," said John Torgan, baykeeper for Save The Bay.

Several Save The Bay employees motored to out to witness the dolphins after seeing them from their office at Fields Point.

They were alerted to the pod after getting calls about sightings off Barrington Beach.

Torgan suspected the marine mammals were feeding on the abundant supply of anchovies now in the bay.  

Robbie Hudson, a research biologist at Save The Bay, identified the species as they swam close to the launch boat he was driving. He last saw dolphins two years ago in Greenwich Bay, but said it was a first finding them so close to Providence.

He suspected improved water quality has brought more bait fish such as anchovies into the bay, which attracts bigger fish, seals and dolphins — all looking for a meal. "Everything comes after that," he said.

To watch a short video of the dolphin swim, click here.