Watershed Counts Cites Improvements in Local Beaches' Health;
Future Climate Change Threats; And Need For Further Funding
Get the Complete Report here: http://watershedcounts.org/report2014.html
Rhode Island and Massachusetts beaches continue to feel the effects of stormwater and wastewater pollution, but investments at the local, state and federal levels have produced a marked improvement in reducing that danger to the health of the shores. Yet with the increased threat of climate change-induced sea level rise and more intense storms, added to fragile funding for beach monitoring, there is a call for increased commitment to clean beaches.
These issues were key features of the 2014 Watershed Counts Report, an annual survey released today to provide an overview of the health of the Narragansett Bay region. The 2014 Report has a focus on bathing beaches and the critical steps that have been taken to keep local beaches clean and open.
Judith Swift, the director of the Coastal Institute at the University of Rhode Island, said that the Watershed Counts Report addresses both ongoing environmental threats such as polluted runoff, as well as the critical implications of climate change: “Our beaches will be the bellwether of climate change. Not only will we lose beaches due to sea level rise, but increased precipitation will add additional pollutants to our beaches from stormwater runoff. Investing in our beaches will ensure that future climate change events can be minimized and the public can continue to enjoy a trip to the beach.”
Watershed Counts is a collaborative initiative of 60 partners including ECRI, facilitated by the URI Coastal Institute in its role as Chair of the Rhode Island Environmental Monitoring Collaborative and the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, working together to evaluate the conditions and trends of the land and waters of the Narragansett Bay Region. Watershed Counts indicators consider the region’s interwoven economic and environmental assets.
