JOR 221 Multimedia
Rebecca Robinson working inside her lab at the University of Rhode Island School of Oceanography.
Pollution in Narragansett Bay
Narragansett—Pollution in the Narragansett Bay can be a factor for everyone in the surrounding area that is why people in the Graduate School of Oceanography are studying how to keep this problem away.
Rebecca Robinson is a Geo Scientist at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. Robinson studies why the oxygen is decreasing in the water and how to make it stop so it doesn’t affect the organisms in it.
Narragansett Bay is a bay and Estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. The bay is used for many things such as fisheries and recreation. “It’s a system that serves the human and non-human population,” says Robinson. If the bay looses too much oxygen all of this can go away.
Two of the major nutrients found in Narragansett Bay are phosphorus and nitrogen. Both of these nutrients are essential for the growth of phytoplankton, however when there are to many nutrients it becomes harmful to all of the other communities in the estuary.
The worst possible scenario is a condition known as hypoxia; this is when the oxygen is so low in the water that it is impossible for aquatic life to remain alive.
Pollution is one of the main things affecting the bay; up north the bay is more affected then down south. “It turns out when we look at the bay it’s really heavily impacted by people and human populations up here and down here it is swept away by the ocean,” says Robinson.
The main sources of pollution are wastewater treatment plants, cesspools, septic systems, and storm water runoff, which carry pollution from land to water.
“Rhode Island has invested millions of dollars to reduce nutrients that go into Narragansett Bay. We’ve created these huge storage tanks so that during the huge rain events nothing goes directed to the bay, everything gets treated,” says Robinson.
The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program and New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission have announced six projects for saving the bay this year. A few of the projects are The City of Newport’s Source Water Phosphorus Reduction Feasibility Plan and Save The Bay’s Ribbed Mussel Nutrient Bio extraction Pilot Project.
There are also many ways the average person can help save the bay. Some of the ways to help are conserve water, plant native trees, shrubs and other vegetation, keep your lawn green by not using fertilizers and drive less.
