Warwick Waters Make DEM Impaired Waters List

PROVIDENCE – The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is soliciting comments on the state’s Impaired Waters List, including 17 lakes/ponds in, and rivers running through Warwick, with a virtual public workshop on water quality findings Oct. 6.

The workshop will be held on Tuesday, October 6 to present findings of the full statewide assessment of water quality conditions, including the draft Impaired Waters List.

WHAT:             Virtual Public Workshop to Discuss Findings of Statewide Water Quality Assessment

WHEN:             Tuesday, Oct. 6, 3 p.m.

WHERE:           Join Zoom Meeting:    https://zoom.us/j/4993285334

Meeting ID:     499 328 5334

To join the public hearing using your phone for audio, click on “Join by Phone” and follow the information on the screen to dial in. All participants will be muted upon joining the meeting. Following a presentation on the results, DEM will take questions and comments via voice or chat.  To make a comment during the hearing, participants should click the “Raise Hand” button on the screen or type into the chat, which will be monitored.

During the workshop, DEM representatives will describe the state’s water quality assessment process, general findings of this assessment including new water body impairments added to the Impaired Waters List and the proposed removal of others.  The state’s priorities for completing the federally mandated water quality restoration studies will also be discussed.

All interested parties are invited to submit written comments on the draft Impaired Waters List by October 30, 2020 to Heidi Travers at [email protected] or via mail to Heidi Travers, DEM, Office of Water Resources, 235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908.

How DEM adds water bodies to the list

DEM’s Office of Water Resources assesses the quality of the state’s surface waters by comparing available monitoring data against the state’s established water quality criteria to determine whether the waters are suitable for such uses as swimming, fish/shellfish consumption, and aquatic life.  The results of this assessment are presented in the state’s Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report (Integrated Report), which documents the overall quality of the state’s waters. It includes a five-part Integrated List which provides available information on each of the state’s lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and estuarine waters. The process of conducting the assessment is documented in the Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodology at: http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/quality/pdf/calm20.pdf.

As part of the process, DEM identifies surface waters that do not meet water quality criteria for which a water quality restoration study known as a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is required in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act. These impaired waters are placed on the state’s 303(d) List, named for the Clean Water Act section that establishes the requirement, which also establishes a schedule for development of the federally mandated studies.   The draft 303(d) List is included in the state’s Impaired Waters Report, available on-line on DEM’s website at:  http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/quality/pdf/303d1820.pdf.

Warwick waters on the Impaired Waters Report

The DEM has placed the following water bodies  on the list:

PROVIDENCE RIVER: south of a line from a point on shore due east of Naushon Avenue in Warwick to the western terminus of Beach Road in East Providence and north of a line from Conimicut Point in Warwick to Old Tower at Nayatt Point in Barrington. East Providence, Warwick, Barrington.

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, nitrogen

UPPER NARRAGANSETT BAY: from Conimicut Point-Nayatt Point boundary south, including waters south of a line from Adams Point, Barrington to Jacobs Point, Warren, to a line from the Rocky Point jetty, Warwick to the southwest (landward) corner of the Colt State Park pier. Warwick, Barrington, Bristol, Warren

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, nitrogen

BUCKEYE BROOK: and tributaries in Warwick

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, impact on benthic (bottom-dwelling) macro-invertebrates (small aquatic animals and the aquatic larval stages of insects, including dragonfly and stonefly larvae, snails, worms, and beetles) used to gauge pollution, cadmium, iron, copper, lead, zinc, Enterococcus bacteria.

TRIBUTARIES TO WARWICK POND:

IMPAIRMENTS:  Impact on benthic macro-invertebrates (small aquatic animals and the aquatic larval stages of insects, including dragonfly and stonefly larvae, snails, worms, and beetles) used to gauge pollution, cadmium, iron, Enterococcus bacteria.

APPONAUG COVE: waters north and west of a line from the RIDEM range marker located at the end of Neptune Street in Chepiwanoxet to the RIDEM range marker located at Cedar Tree Point. Warwick

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform

BRUSHNECK COVE:

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, nitrogen

BUTTONWOODS COVE:

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, nitrogen

GREENWICH BAY: waters north and west of a line from the eastern extremity of Sandy Pt. on Potowomut Neck, East Greenwich, to the flag pole located at the Warwick Country Club on Warwick Neck, east of a line from the northerly point of Long Point to the southerly point of Chepiwanoxet Point, and east of a line from the RIDEM range marker located on the NECO Pole#6 at the end of Neptune St. in Chepiwanoxet to the RIDEM range marker located at the extension of Capron Farm Drive in Nausauket. Warwick, East Greenwich.

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, nitrogen

GREENWICH COVE: south of Long Point. East Greenwich, Warwick

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen

WARWICK COVE:  north of a line from the easternmost extension of Burr Avenue on Horse Neck to the westernmost extension of Meadow Avenue on the east shore.

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, total nitrogen

HARDIG BROOK & TRIBS: Hardig Brook and tributaries. West Warwick, Warwick

IMPAIRMENTS: Lead, fecal coliform

MASKERCHUGG RIVER: Warwick, East Greenwich

IMPAIRMENTS: Cadmium, fecal coliform

WEST PASSAGE: waters south of a line from the eastern extremity of Sandy Point on Potowomut Neck, East Greenwich, to the flagpole located at the Warwick Country club on Warwick Neck; south of a line from the southernmost extremity of Warwick Point on Warwick Neck, to the northernmost point on Prudence Island (Providence Point); north of a line extending from the shore in the vicinity of High Bank Ave, North Kingstown, running due east through buoy N”6″ and terminating at the shoreline of Prudence Island. Warwick, East Greenwich, North Kingstown, Portsmouth.

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen

PAWTUXET RIVER SOUTH BRANCH from the Quidnick Dye Mill dam to its confluence with the North Branch of the Pawtuxet River. Coventry, West Warwick, Warwick

IMPAIRMENTS: Lead

THREE PONDS: Warwick

IMPAIRMENTS: Low dissolved oxygen, lead, copper, phosphorus, invasive plants

PAWTUXET RIVER MAIN STEM from the confluence of the North and South Branches at Riverpoint to the Pawtuxet Cove Dam at Pawtuxet. West Warwick, Warwick, Cranston

IMPAIRMENTS:  Invasive plants, phosphorous, mercury in fish tissue

THREE POND BROOK: Warwick

IMPAIRMENTS: lead