Raising a stink on the Bay

Residents assail state's response to recent pollution woes in Greenwich and Narragansett Bays.

09:10 AM EDT on Wednesday, September 24, 2003

BY DANIEL BARBARISI
Journal Staff Writer

WARWICK -- The fish and clam kills that wiped out millions of organisms last month will probably happen summer after summer, and there is no easy solution nor an end in sight, scientists and state officials said last night.

"This is going to repeat every summer. You're going to have it happen over and over again until we deal with the nitrogen," said Christopher Deacutis, a scientist with the state Department of Enviromental Management.

The causes of nitrogen pollution in Greenwich and Narragansett Bays are numerous, ranging from failed septic systems to boater waste to stormwater runoff to discharge from wastewater treatment plants, officials told a crowd of 150 people at a meeting at Winman Jr. High School organized by Save the Bay, the DEM, the Coastal Resources Management Council, and the governor's office.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach

PAINSTAKING CLEANUP: Workers from the City of Warwick and Clean Harbors rake dead seaweed, silt and shellfish into piles to be taken away in Warwick's Conimicut area, where residents have complained for weeks about the stench from the remains.

Nitrogen promotes excessive algae growth which sucks up vital oxygen in the water, and leads to events such as the fish and clam kills and a hazardous hydrogen sulfide stench at Conimicut Point. The conditions worsen once a month at neap tide, when the tidal cycle keeps the water at its most stagnant. Officials believe the kills have happened before on a smaller scale, and could become annual events.

"I know the fear, and I know that from what I keep hearing from the scientists it will keep recurring," Governor Carcieri said.

The governor pledged to continue cleanup efforts, and promised he would announce a new commission to protect and plan for Narragansett Bay's future within the week.

But many in the audience were angry at a perceived lack of action by the state, both in its reaction to the Conimicut stench and in its lax regulation of real estate developers near the shoreline, and boaters in Greenwich Bay. In most cases, state officials admitted they could have done more, and promised to be proactive in the future.

Betsy Peloso, of Shawomet Avenue on Conimicut Point, lambasted state officials for not telling area residents for three weeks that the hydrogen sulfide released by decaying seaweed and clams could be harmful to their health.

Carcieri said he believed state officials waited so long hoping the problem would fix itself, and that the decaying matter would simply wash out to sea.

"We were too slow giving information as to the hazards, and the potential of what people should be aware of," Carcieri said.

Several others said boaters dumping human waste directly into the Bay are a forgotten cause of the pollution, and railed at the DEM for reportedly not enforcing its own regulations requiring all waste be disposed at pumping stations.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach

"Denial is not a river in Egypt . . . I think you need a better plan to regulate this -- and I think you need to enforce it now," said Cheryl Folco, of Cedar Tree Point, who said that these problems are nothing new. "We all know that the Bay has been in trouble for years. For 23 years on and off, in Cedar Tree Point we have not been able to clam."

DEM Director Jan Reitsma said that he believes the problem with boater waste is overstated, but conceded that enforcing the regulations against those who do dump into the Bay is difficult.

"I know that there are some serious weaknesses, including our ability to enforce," Reitsma said.

The governor agreed.

"We do a great job of passing regulations, but don't have a clue as to how we're going to enforce them," Carcieri said.

Jack Early, head of the local advocacy group Defenders of Greenwich Bay, said the state -- particularly the CRMC -- was too lenient in allowing developers to flout state regulations and build housing too close to the water. If they have a good lawyer, he said, developers can get anything they want in areas the CRMC said are protected.

"The belief is, in this state, that CRMC is up for sale," Early said.

Scientists also said they feared another fish kill could have begun over the last few days due to the tidal cycle, but said oxygen levels have remained safe, probably due to heavy winds and several recent storms.