Healthy Beaches - Narragansett Bay Estuary Program

Keeping Narragansett Bay Beaches
Safe for Swimmers
Amie Parris and Lauren Russo
Rhode Island is known for its beautiful beaches and coastline. Ensuring that its beaches are safe for swimming is a
priority both to ensure the health of our residents and to support Rhode Island’s valuable tourism industry.
The Rhode Island Department of Health’s (HEALTH)
Beach Program is responsible for protecting the public from
illness associated with swimming in contaminated bathing
waters, primarily through its licensing and oversight of recreational bathing beaches throughout the state. HEALTH
defines a bathing beach as a natural tract of land that is used
for swimming or bathing in any waters of the state. The beach
must be open to the public or maintained as a private club
or association. But most importantly, licensed beaches are
required to monitor the water quality of the swimming area
to ensure that the water meets bacteriological standards. The
Beach Program not only provides sampling and laboratory
services for licensed beaches, it also assists beach owners and
managers with finding and eliminating the pollution sources
that can cause illness and lead to beach closures.
HEALTH began monitoring bathing beaches in the
summer of 1995. Prior to 1995, the Rhode Island Department
of Environmental Management (RIDEM) was responsible for
monitoring beaches.. In 1999, development of a comprehensive Beach-Monitoring Program began with funding from the
US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Among its
first tasks, HEALTH established a public notification system
of beach water quality including a website, telephone hotline,
and beach signage system; it also evaluated conditions in
Upper Narragansett Bay, which has long been impacted by
urban runoff, point source discharges and combined sewer
overflows. Wet and dry weather samples were collected at
23 stations in the Upper Narragansett Bay, resulting in a
Narragansett Bay Journal
Oakland Beach is free to the public and offers ample parking, public restrooms, and restaurants nearby. Photo: NBEP.
determination that areas north of Conimicut Point in Warwick and Nayatt Point in Barrington were unsuitable for
licensing and that additional sampling was needed at the
licensed Upper Bay beaches to adequately protect public
health.
In 2000, Congress enacted the Beaches Environmental
Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act, an amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (a.k.a. The
Clean Water Act). This act authorizes USEPA to distribute
grants to eligible states, territories and tribes to reduce the
risk of disease and illness in the nation’s bathing waters.
Since that time, the USEPA has provided HEALTH with
over $2 million in beach grants to manage Rhode Island’s
Beach Program. These grants have provided
HEALTH the resources to vastly improve the
state’s monitoring and notification programs
and to develop a broad base of knowledge
regarding Rhode Island’s monitored beaches.
Currently, HEALTH’s Beach Program maintains a rigorous water sampling schedule from
Memorial Day to Labor Day. Water samples are
collected by HEALTH and analyzed for Enterococci bacteria (an indicator organism used to
detect the presence of fecal matter in the water
column) based upon standards set by RIDEM
and USEPA.
Since 1995, the number of water samples
collected by HEALTH has increased from 281
to 1,988 in 2010. Beach owners and managers,
as well as nonprofit groups and volunteers, collect approximately 1,000 additional saltwater
samples annually. In addition, the number of
facilities tested has increased from 82 in 1997
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to 114 in 2010, 72 of which are saltwater beaches.
In order to maintain a rigorous monitoring schedule, five
college level students are hired each summer by the Beach
Program to collect water samples, complete daily beach
surveys, assist the laboratory with sample analysis, and
implement special projects.
Stormwater, wastewater and run-off are all major contributors to poor water quality at licensed beaches. To address this
issue the Beach Program works closely with beach owners and
managers, cities and towns and other state agencies to identify and eliminate the sources of contamination. Recently,
the Beach Program has worked with the towns of Bristol
and Warren and the city of Newport to address sources of
contamination at local beaches, particularly by improving
infrastructure such as outfalls and stormwater pipes that
carry bacteria that contribute to beach closures. Many of
these improvements include green technologies such as the
ultra-violet treatment system in Newport and a porous parking lot and drainage retention system installed in Bristol.
The Beach Program is also taking a proactive stance in
ensuring the public’s access to recreational opportunities. In
2010, the Program launched the Urban Beach Initiative with
the goal of identifying and assessing unlicensed public access
points in upper Narragansett Bay being utilized by the public.
For approximately four weeks, likely areas of use in Warwick,
Cranston, Barrington and East Providence were identified.
After repeated visits and observations, three of these areas
were chosen for assessment: Sabin’s Point and Rosa Larisa
Memorial Park in East Providence and Gaspee Point in Warwick. Approximately 164 water samples were collected at
the three locations, along with daily beach surveys, sanitary
surveys and personal interviews with beachgoers. All locations reported concentrations of Enterococci comparable to
licensed bathing beaches throughout the state.
The Urban Beach Initiative will continue through 2011.
Existing urban beaches will be added to the initiative’s
biweekly sampling schedule; USEPA expects to assist HEALTH
in assessing the beaches’ safety by providing dive team specialists to survey for hazardous underwater conditions such
as broken glass, metal debris or other materials that could
pose dangers to users. In addition, Save the Bay will assist
HEALTH to investigate similar locations and help identify if
additional public access points need to be monitored.
All these activities make the 2011 season bright for the
Beach Program. There are multiple projects underway to promote and sustain healthy beaches throughout Rhode Island.
• The Program is currently conducting a year-round water
use survey to investigate illnesses associated with swimming in Rhode Island waters. Volunteers are completing
illness surveys each time they enter the water for onecalendar year.
• The city of Newport has made improvements to the
combined sewage overflow system located at Wellington
Avenue. The Beach Program is working with the city to
re-open King Park Beach for the 2011 swimming season.
• Partnering with a student from the University of Rhode
Island (URI), the Beach Program is conducting a pet waste
study and outreach program for the State of Rhode Island.
The aim of this study is to investigate the extent of pet
waste contamination to coastal waters in Rhode Island,
develop a comprehensive database of statewide regulations
concerning dogs on the beach and create an education
and outreach program using brochures and public service
announcements to communicate the importance of cleaning up after pets.
The Beach Program will continue to work with partner
agencies and municipalities to find and eliminate sources of
contamination at Rhode Island beaches. Swimming looks
good for the summer of 2011! Don’t forget your sunscreen.
~Amie Parris and Lauren Russo coordinate the HEALTH Beach Program at the RI
Department of Health
The Upper Narragansett Bay beaches have shown significant improvements since 2006. Map courtesy of RI Department of Health.
Narragansett Bay Journal
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