How’s the Water?
The 2017 State of Narragansett Bay and Its Watershed
The 2017 State of Narragansett Bay and Its Watershed was released last month by the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, following ??years of scientific research, analysis, and peer review by practitioners from universities, organizations and agencies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
While the report shares the good news that water in the Bay is getting cleaner and experiencing positive changes in the ecosystem after recent reductions in pollution from wastewater treatment facilities, it also warns that climate change is affecting air and water temperatures, precipitation, sea level and types and abundance of fish and other marine species in the region.
More research and monitoring are needed over time to understand these major changes in order to make well-informed management decisions.