Lower Providence River Safe For Fishing, Thanks To Wastewater Tunnel - The Fisherman

Lower Providence River Safe For Fishing, Thanks To Wastewater Tunnel

Years of work and millions of dollars in investment are paying off for the Providence River, and with it, fishing and shellfishing opportunities have increased.

This spring the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) opened the lower third of the Providence River to quahogging on a conditional basis for the first time in more than 75 years. And experts say the river is clean enough to fish, too.

“This is a tremendous day for Rhode Island that many never thought possible,” DEM director Janet Coit said in a statement last month. “The opening of these new shellfishing grounds is the result of water quality improvements from decades of intense efforts to clean up the Providence River and Narragansett Bay.”

Quahogging in the Providence River — which forms at the confluence of the Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck rivers, is joined downstream by the Seekonk River and becomes Narragansett Bay past Conimicut Point and Nyatt Point — has been restricted as far back as records go because of water quality issues related to stormwater runoff, industrial pollutants and wastewater overflows.

Shellfish health “closely mirror[s] that of their water environment,” according to Annemarie Beardsworth, who spoke on behalf of DEM and the Department of Health (DOH), which work closely together on issues relating to safe seafood harvesting. Quahogs, the official shellfish of Rhode Island, can be impacted by the accumulation of toxins related to marine algae and by fecal coliform bacteria that can enter the river with wastewater overflow.

Sixteen monitoring stations in the Providence River help public-health agencies keep up with changes in water quality and understand where hazards are located. Recent advances in environmental laws and wastewater treatment facilities have helped make the Providence River healthy for quahogs and for human consumers, according to DEM.

The “largest single contributing factor” in creating a shellfish-friendly environment, Beardsworth said, was the construction of the combined sewer overflow (CSO) storage tunnel 250 feet below the city of Providence by the Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC).

The 3-mile tunnel catches and holds stormwater in heavy precipitation events, according to NBC public affairs manager Jamie Samons.

After stormwater inflow has decreased, she said stored water is pumped back up to the water treatment facility at Fields Point to be treated and discharged into the river. Since going online in 2008, the tunnel has captured nearly 13 billion gallons of wastewater overflow that would have gone directly into the Providence River and Narragansett Bay without being treated.

“It’s entirely due to that project,” Samons said. “Over the past several years shellfishing closures have been relaxed all through the upper bay and now we’re into the Providence River and it’s because water quality has improved so much because of this.”

The tunnel and additional wastewater treatment updates have decreased post-storm bacteria concentrations in the Providence River by 41 percent, according to the NBC. These levels still increase in the Providence River after rain events of more than half an inch but return to normal after three to four days. Shellfish are safe to consume after an additional three-day waiting period, according to DEM.

“Our decades of work and investment in clean water … have real and meaningful impact for Rhode Island’s environment, public health and economy,” NBC chairman Vincent Mesolella said in last month’s statement. “And now, as the benefits move further up into the Providence River, even more, Rhode Islanders can enjoy access to clean water in their communities.”

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