Cleaning up the cove

New study aims at improving water quality in Hundred Acre Cove

By Josh Bickford
Posted 11/10/19

How clean is the water in Hundred Acre Cove?

Officials from Save The Bay, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, and three different towns …

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Cleaning up the cove

New study aims at improving water quality in Hundred Acre Cove

Posted

How clean is the water in Hundred Acre Cove?

Officials from Save The Bay, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, and three different towns are trying to answer that question and more as part of an extensive project. 

The study, which was made possible through a multi-year grant from the federal government, will identify projects and tasks that would support an improvement of Hundred Acre Cove's water quality. 

Already, officials have been able to gather decades worth of detailed information regarding the cove, including results from prior water sampling, some storm-water run-off reports, and master plans from the different towns that border the cove. Save The Bay does not intend to conduct further water sampling as part of the grant, but hopes to potentially design a program to find sources of pollution impacting the cove and create a plan to address those problem areas.

Kate McPherson, the Narragansett Bay Riverkeeper for Save The Bay, said the study has been broken down into different phases. The first phase, she said, was to look at all the prior studies and projects that were done involving Hundred Acre Cove and the Runnins River watershed area. 

"We really took a deep dive into the history, looking at what reports are there," Ms. McPherson said, adding that her group also created an interactive map displaying best management practices used at the cove. 

The study also documented where all the water quality samples were taken in Hundred Acre Cove over the last 10 years by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and by the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). 

"We identified over 70 documents that pertained to water quality in Hundred Acre Cove," Ms. McPherson said. 

Some of the information was relatively new, collected less than a year ago, while other data shared an historical perspective, dating back to the 1990s. 

Ms. McPherson said Save The Bay partnered with the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, which turned the data into a visual representation of water quality in the cove. 

Through its work, Save The Bay has been able to identify some issues. For example, officials learned that the Town of Seekonk did not have a complete map of its storm-water system. Ms. McPherson said Seekonk officials knew where all the storm-water intakes were located, but less was known about where the water discharged.

Ms. McPherson said Save The Bay worked with Seekonk municipal leaders to build a complete map of the "outfalls," or places where storm-water discharged.

"We had a team go out and drive every road and connect the dots," she said. The group later discovered that some of the discharge points were not concerning. One outfall in particular was blocked up by dog waste bags — meaning that water flowing out of that pipe was coming in contact with dog feces and then draining into the Runnins River, which feeds into Hundred Acre Cove.

The Save The Bay workers also identified other outfalls that were in disrepair. Ms. McPherson said the Seekonk public works department is now aware of the problem spots and can make improvements. 

Ms. McPherson said the coordination among agencies and communities has been a crucial component with the current study. 

Next phase

Ms. McPherson said the study will soon focus on identifying the work that is needed in and around the cove, as well as locating funding mechanisms to pay for the improvements. She said Barrington and Seekonk have already been awarded grant money for additional work. 

Another part of the work will aim at building a plan to identify and then address sources of pollution. 

Ms. McPherson attended the town council meeting on Monday, Nov. 4, and shared an update on the project. When she was finished, Barrington resident Ann Strong approached the microphone and said she was part of a group that studied Hundred Acre Cove in the 1990s. She said there was interest then in testing the fecal coliform found in the water to see what species it originated from. 

Ms. McPherson said that the current study does not include funding for testing the water, but added that they will focus on finding the best methods for testing water quality.

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