Just how clean are our local shorelines and waters? Eight years of weekly water quality monitoring on Aquidneck Island
Residents now have eight years of weekly water quality monitoring results to decide for themselves, thanks to the work of Clean Ocean Access.
Clean Ocean Access (COA) has published their 2008-2016 Water Quality Monitoring Summary Report to share results from their water quality monitoring program on Aquidneck Island. COA emphasizes that this program focuses on locations that are known for swimming and ocean activities, although not all locations are necessarily recognized as designated swimming areas.
With the help of citizen science volunteers, COA collected 3,593 water samples on a weekly basis during the period of 2008 to 2016. Samples were collected at seven popular swimming locations, and two likely source areas of Enterococci bacteria along the Aquidneck Island shoreline, with approved funding for laboratory fees from the City of Newport. Collecting data from weekly water samples over an eight-year period provides an opportunity for quantitative long-term trend analysis. During this period, the communities of the
During this period, the communities of the City of Newport and Town of Middletown have made significant investments to address the pollution problems facing the Aquidneck Island shoreline.
The full report can be found here – https://issuu.com/cleanoceanaccess/docs/clean_ocean_access_2008-2016_water_.
For more information on Clean Ocean Access, visit www.cleanoceanaccess.org.
