{"id":11848,"date":"2024-01-25T15:48:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T20:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=11848"},"modified":"2024-12-18T10:47:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T15:47:48","slug":"river-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/spring-2024\/river-state\/","title":{"rendered":"River State"},"content":{"rendered":"

One Water<\/h1>

Why Rivers Matter in the Ocean State<\/p><\/div><\/div>

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The Woonasquatucket River flows over the dam at Rising Sun Mills in Providence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhode Island\u2019s rivers are as important to the state\u2019s history, economy, and identity as the ocean waters they flow into. Long plagued by pollution and neglect, rivers have been the focus of revitalization efforts, and 溏心vlog免费B站 has played an important role. The future of our rivers\u2014and all our waterways\u2014depends on how we manage, protect, and respect them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Dave Lavallee \u201979, M.P.A. \u201987<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a bright, fall day in the Olneyville section of Providence, the Woonasquatucket River roars over a dam that once powered the National and Providence Worsted Mills. The former textile mills now house stylish apartments and commercial spaces, including a cafe and yoga studio. Alongside the river sit the hulking, rusted remnants of the sluiceway that once controlled the flow of water to the mills. A fish ladder, completed in 2007, allows 40,000 herring to return upstream each spring for spawning, a rite once prevented by the dam. On the opposite side is the popular Woonasquatucket River Greenway Bike Path, which follows the river from Johnston to Providence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the scene on the banks of the Woonasquatucket wasn\u2019t always so idyllic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI moved to Rhode Island in 1988 and began work as a summer intern at DEM (R.I. Department of Environmental Management),\u201d says Alicia Lehrer, M.S. \u201993, executive director of the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council. Lehrer earned her 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate degree in natural resources science and developed the bacterial testing program for 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Watershed Watch volunteer water monitoring program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe river was right outside my office door, and my coworkers took me outside to see it,\u201d Lehrer recalls. \u201cThey said, \u2018This is the Woonasquatucket. It is really contaminated. Don\u2019t go in there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is really no comparison to the water quality now,\u201d she says. \u201cUntil 2015, we had a lot of problems, including sewage from 19 combined sewer overflow pipes along the river.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The remains of a sluiceway that once controlled the flow of the Woonasquatucket River.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mallard ducks on the banks of the Blackstone River.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Narragansett Bay Commission<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Combined sewer systems collect rainwater runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in one pipe. Sometimes, during heavy rainfall, the runoff exceeds the pipe\u2019s capacity and untreated water flows into nearby water bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to the Narragansett Bay Commission, which owns and operates Rhode Island\u2019s two largest wastewater treatment facilities\u2014Field\u2019s Point in Providence and Bucklin Point in East Providence\u2014combined sewage overflow has been greatly diminished. Three major commission projects are noteworthy\u2014a below-ground, 65 million-gallon, 3-mile tunnel that captures and holds sewage for treatment at Field\u2019s Point; a system of near-surface pipes along the Seekonk and Woonasquatucket rivers to intercept overflows; and a 2.2-mile, 65 million-gallon tunnel to hold overflow before it gets to the Seekonk River. The commission broke ground on the last of these in 2021. By the completion of the final phase, combined sewage overflow discharges to the rivers are projected to decrease by 93%. Additional projects have reduced nitrogen loads from the Field\u2019s Point and Bucklin Point facilities by 83%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

溏心vlog免费B站 oceanography professor Chris Kincaid has worked with the commission since 1998, measuring and modeling the Seekonk and Providence rivers and upper Narragansett Bay, particularly for hypoxia, or low levels of dissolved oxygen. Hypoxia is caused by excessive nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorous, that lead to aquatic plant blooms and fish kills, like the one in August 2003 on Greenwich Bay, when a million dead fish washed ashore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Field’s Point in Providence is one of Rhode Island’s two largest wastewater treatment facilities. 溏心vlog免费B站 oceanography professor Chris Kincaid has worked with the Narragansett Bay Commission, which owns and operates the facility, since 1988 to measure and reduce nutrients in the water that comes out of treatment facilities. Engineering professor Vinka Oyanedel-Craver assessed the baseline level of microplastics contamination at the facility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ashton Mill on the Blackstone River in Cumberland, R.I., produced muslin from 1867\u20131935, when it shut down during the Great Depression. The mill building now houses luxury apartments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a balance,\u201d says Kincaid, who has collected 1 billion data points from the Seekonk and Providence rivers and the upper bay. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have enough nitrogen, you starve the things that live in the water. But if you have too much nitrogen, you get a bloom of phytoplankton, algae, and grasses. When that material dies and settles to the bottom, detritivores, the organisms that break down the dead material, suck all the oxygen out of the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter the Greenwich Bay fish kill, there was a rallying cry that this couldn\u2019t happen again, but let\u2019s make sure we understand the problem,\u201d Kincaid says. \u201cOne of the first things that happened was treatment plants started using three-stage treatments to remove nitrogen from wastewater.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNarragansett Bay has one of the most extensive data sets in the world for coastal plumbing, or how water moves and flushes,\u201d says Kincaid. \u201cOne of the reasons is the Narragansett Bay Commission\u2019s support of science, data, and sound modeling. We have been working to balance ecosystem health with economic health, and to do that you need huge amounts of data to build accurate ecosystem modeling tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur most recent bay circulation models, improved through years of trial-and-error validation steps with data, show that managed nutrient reductions have been successful,” Kincaid says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His simulations indicate that rivers and offshore intrusions\u2014rather than sewage treatment plant inputs\u2014now have the greatest impact on nutrient levels and blooms in the Providence and Seekonk rivers and in the upper bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore the 2003 fish kill,\u201d says Kincaid, \u201ctreatment plants were discharging at 20 milligrams per liter concentrations for total nitrogen; now the concentration is 5 milligrams per liter coming out of the pipes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cOnce rivers are loved and revered, investment follows.\u201d<\/blockquote>Alicia Lehrer, M.S. \u201993, executive director of the\nWoonasquatucket River Watershed Council<\/cite><\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Such efforts have had significant positive impacts. \u201cRecently, we collected data that showed swimmable water quality at Riverside Park, which is in the heart of Olneyville, a heavily industrialized area,\u201d says Lehrer. \u201cThe water is not consistently clean enough for swimming, but this was kind of like a miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cleaner river has led to almost $1 billion in investment along the Woonasquatucket\u2019s banks. Such developments as the Foundry Campus\u2014a mixed-use property including residences and offices located in the former home of machine tool manufacturer Brown & Sharpe\u2014now dot the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce rivers are loved and revered, investment follows,\u201d says Lehrer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Blackstone River runs through the northeastern corner of Rhode Island and was once referred to as the hardest working river in America because it was home to hundreds of mills. It was also one of the most polluted rivers in the nation. Remediation efforts have made the river cleaner and more hospitable for people and wildlife.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Blackstone River flows over a dam between Lincoln and Cumberland, R.I.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Rivers Foster Civilization<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The region\u2019s Indigenous people have long \u201cloved and revered\u201d local rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lor\u00e9n Spears \u201989, Hon. \u201917, executive director of the Tomaquag Museum and a citizen of the Narragansett tribal nation, says, \u201cWe used rivers for transportation to trade and visit with other people. Food sources such as fish, turtles, and mammals were harvested from the rivers and their banks. We harvested plant matter like bulrush. Its seeds and roots are edible, and we wove stalks of the plant material for mats in our homes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rivers allowed people to move from their winter homes to their summer homes. \u201cWe stayed in inland longhouses in the winter, and during the spring and summer we used the rivers to get to our homes near the ocean,\u201d Spears says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis traditional ecological knowledge\u2014including food, medicine, technology, and spirituality\u2014of the rivers and other waterways is passed down to our people today,\u201d says Spears. \u201cWe share this knowledge through tours at the Tomaquag Museum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

溏心vlog免费B站 associate professor of geosciences Soni Pradhanang, who takes an interdisciplinary approach to her work on managing water resources and protecting ecosystems, echoes Spears on the centrality of rivers in the lives of ancient people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHuman civilization owes its start to the rivers of the world,\u201d Pradhanang says. \u201cYou can\u2019t irrigate with seawater. It\u2019s no coincidence that the great Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures developed along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and the Nile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd ancient people lived in or near the rivers\u2019 floodplains,\u201d Pradhanang adds. \u201cWhen the rivers flooded and receded, they deposited beneficial soils and sediments on the land that the people farmed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rivers as Economic Engines<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But centuries later, rivers became the engines that transformed Rhode Island into one of the richest states in the nation, as Samuel Slater and other industrialists built water-powered mills on them. Rhode Island\u2019s rivers powered manufacturing giants including Fruit of the Loom, U.S. Rubber, and some of the biggest names in jewelry manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost, however, was great as rivers became polluted with waste from inadequate sewage systems, residential cesspools, and toxins from the mills. The dams built to control water flow to the mills prevented migratory fish from returning to the rivers to spawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revitalization of the state\u2019s rivers in the past half-century is due in large part to the Clean Water Act of 1972, which, according to Elizabeth Herron \u201988, M.A. \u201904, director of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Watershed Watch, required mills to pay for their pollution. The act empowered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement wastewater standards for industry and made it unlawful to discharge pollutants into navigable waters without an EPA permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Elizabeth Herron \u201988, M.A. \u201904, director of 溏心vlog免费B站’s Watershed Watch, on a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Saugatucket River in Wakefield, R.I.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Herron, like Lehrer, observes that the economy is strengthened when rivers, along with their affiliated ponds and surrounding lands, are clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCanoeing, kayaking, fishing, and other recreational activities have increased because water is cleaner,\u201d says Herron. \u201cPeople are buying and renting boats, kayaks, and fishing gear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the state\u2019s bike paths, several of which run along rivers, including the Blackstone, Woonasquatucket, Pawtuxet, Ten Mile, and Saugatucket, \u201chave led to more businesses that recognize the beauty and value of the bike paths and rivers,\u201d Herron says. \u201cAlong the Washington Secondary Bike Path near Route 117 in West Warwick, ice cream and breakfast places have oriented their stores to take advantage of the bike path and the nearby Pawtuxet River.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And cleaner rivers are not just good for business. \u201cEels, herring, eagles, beavers, otters, egrets, herons, and mink have returned to the rivers,\u201d Herron says, adding that there are more trees lining rivers across Rhode Island today than there were 100 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cForests and their accompanying leaf litter slow and filter rainwater as it moves to lakes, ponds, and rivers,\u201d Herron says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

溏心vlog免费B站 Engineers and Scientists Help Establish Cleaner Rivers<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s involvement in revitalizing the state\u2019s rivers goes back decades. Raymond Wright, emeritus dean of the College of Engineering, worked closely with the EPA on a comprehensive report in 2001 after 10 years of study, showing the Blackstone River\u2019s water quality had improved greatly. His Blackstone River Initiative report has been used as a model for other river studies. Wright conducted studies on the levels of nutrients, like phosphorous and nitrogen, as well has heavy metals like mercury, chromium, and lead in many of the state\u2019s rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe collected data, which agencies like the EPA and DEM could use to develop regulations and water quality standards,\u201d Wright says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRay was a great supporter and mentor to me,\u201d says Vinka Oyanedel-Craver, associate dean for research and professor of civil and environmental engineering\u2014and one of the principal investigators with 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Water for the World Initiative. \u201cI inherited his lab when I started at 溏心vlog免费B站.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of her newest research projects involves working with the R.I. Department of Transportation (DOT) on street sweeping. Oyanedel-Craver calls the project a \u201cnonstructural alternative\u201d to addressing pollution in storm runoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are looking at the amount of dust and sand on the state\u2019s roads and analyzing what is in those materials that could enter rivers, streams, and the bay,\u201d she says. \u201cDOT came to us for assistance in determining a schedule that would help reduce the load of pollutants entering bodies of water in an effective and economical way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says sources of contaminants on the state\u2019s roads include car exhaust particles and materials from tire and brake decay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pradhanang also notes Wright\u2019s influence. \u201cWhen I led the Scituate Reservoir safe yield research in 2017,\u201d she says, \u201cI contacted Ray to learn about the Scituate reservoirs and their hydrodynamics. He is rich in information and is always eager to talk about science related to rivers and reservoirs. The background he provided helped us with our project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright\u2019s late colleague, professor emeritus of chemical engineering Stanley Barnett, and former chemical engineering research professor Eugene Park, Ph.D. \u201994, received the Narragansett Bay Commission\u2019s 2011 Pollution Prevention Environmental Merit Award for their work on finding sustainable, cost-effective solutions to environmental problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barnett and Park helped Rhode Island businesses reduce and prevent pollution for 25 years and served as pro bono engineering consultants to more than 500 companies. They worked closely with the DEM, Narragansett Bay Commission, and the EPA to resolve pollution problems in industries such as metal finishing, textiles, and auto body repair.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Andrew McNulty, M.E.S.M. ’22, takes soil samples for a 2021 Department of Natural Resources Science project that mapped hundreds of acres of wetlands along the Pawcatuck River, which flows from Worden Pond in South Kingstown, R.I., to Stonington, Connecticut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A More Sustainable Approach to Textiles<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Textile mills and other factories were prime sources of river pollution, but 溏心vlog免费B站 textiles professor emeritus Martin Bide conducted research to help the industry reduce pollution. Now, Professor Karl Aspelund of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design aims to work with a still-thriving\u2014albeit, smaller\u2014textile industry to reduce pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am planning a long-term, multidisciplinary project that will, if successful, create a model for how to run a textile manufacturing operation with a minimal ecological footprint,\u201d Aspelund says. \u201cA textile mill in nearby Massachusetts has agreed to open its doors to us completely so a team can conduct business and engineering analyses and assess the mill\u2019s wastewater treatment and environmental impact. It will be broad research that will also look at the sociological impacts on the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team will work on a manufacturing model that puts less waste into the air, water, and landfills and fewer plastic particles into the environment. Aspelund says it\u2019s a winning proposition for the mills, including the handful of textile operations still running in Rhode Island, because they could end up with a model for how to \u201ccontinue to manufacture for generations to come in a way that is ecologically sound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aspelund\u2019s project will include scientists who investigate groundwater and soil contamination. \u201cThis team has already developed an interesting way of using plant life, mainly trees, as biofiltration devices,\u201d says Aspelund. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to get them in there to check the state of the soil and water around the plant, and to then work with local flora to clean the area\u2014and keep it clean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Blackstone Valley<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 48-mile Blackstone River, which runs from Worcester, Mass., to Pawtucket, R.I., was once commonly referred to as the hardest working river in America because it was home to hundreds of mills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pollutants from the mills and other sources had, for many years, turned the river into an open sewer. The river was acidic\u2014harmful for the ecosystem. \u201cBut now the water quality has improved greatly,\u201d says Samantha Jackson \u201922, director of education for the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, adding that it has \u201ca perfect pH, between 6 and 7.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI take a lot of seniors, people in their 80s and 90s, out on the river for tours, and they tell me you couldn\u2019t go out on the river when they were young because it smelled so bad,\u201d says Jackson, who leads tours on the Blackstone Valley Explorer riverboat. \u201cThe river was so polluted, and you couldn\u2019t get a canoe in the river because there was so much trash. The seniors tell me the river ran from pink to purple and red to orange depending on the dyes being used in the textile factories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur boat captains have been with us a long time, and they are seeing more and more wildlife, such as great blue herons,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cI saw a mated pair of eagles fishing in the river in Pawtucket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central Falls Landing, a public space and dock where the tourism council is located, has become a gathering place where people launch canoes and kayaks. Like the Woonasquatucket, a prettier and cleaner Blackstone has spawned businesses like Shark\u2019s Peruvian Cuisine, a bustling restaurant with an outdoor seating area overlooking the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cPeople should stop thinking, \u2018seacoast, oceans, rivers, streams.\u2019 It\u2019s one water, one ocean.\u201d<\/blockquote>Samantha Jackson \u201922, director of education for the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council<\/cite><\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Samantha Jackson \u201922, director of education for the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and Captain Joe Walkden, M.S. \u201998, on the Blackstone Valley Explorer Riverboat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Water<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Researchers and advocates, whether talking about rivers, streams, harbors, or the ocean\u2014all emphasize a critical point: All water is connected.

\u201cWater is a big repository,\u201d says Oyanedel-Craver. \u201cEverything we use, from plastics to fertilizers, shows up in the water\u2014including medicines. I learned from a mentor that everyone is downstream, and there is only one water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRhode Island is called the Ocean State,\u201d says Herron, \u201cbut we have to remember that anything that enters the rivers winds up in the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackson makes that point when talking about the 19 dams along the Blackstone River. \u201cThey can\u2019t be taken down because that would release poisonous sediment containing a variety of toxins into the river, and then, eventually, into the bay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople should stop thinking, \u2018seacoast, oceans, rivers, streams,\u2019\u201d says Jackson. \u201cIt\u2019s one water, one ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos: Nora Lewis; Issac White<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Working for Rhode Island Rivers<\/span><\/h1>\n

溏心vlog免费B站 researchers are a force for good when it comes to Rhode Island\u2019s rivers\u2014from the Blackstone to the Saugatucket.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013Dave Lavallee \u201979, M.P.A. \u201987<\/p>\n\n\n