Wickford Fish kill

[jkjnp]

Originally Posted by bluefishercat

There are a couple of factors that add way more to the BOD than human waste (mostly eliminated from flowing directly into bodies of water in the United States) One of them is excess fertilizer and the other is your pet dog or cat. Both are carried thru stormwater drains directly into the water.

Agreed... but it is my understanding, and I could be wrong, that strong storms in the Providence area cause the waste water treatment facility to be maxed out allowing raw sewage to leak into the bay. I'm pretty sure they're working on fixing the problem, but it is a major undertaking and not done yet.

[parker23]

Those fish have been in brackish water deep inside tha harbor for at least a month. The water is pee warm and has very little oxygen.
Stuff happens. I am no expert, just an observer.

[EarnedStripes44]

Originally Posted by jkjnp

Agreed... but it is my understanding, and I could be wrong, that strong storms in the Providence area cause the waste water treatment facility to be maxed out allowing raw sewage to leak into the bay. I'm pretty sure they're working on fixing the problem, but it is a major undertaking and not done yet.

This is the same problem we have in Boston, despite the "state of the art" wastewater treatment plant on Deer Island. You should see some of the culverts along the lower Charles and the Mystic spewing generous mixtures of gutter wash, litter, oils and untreated sewage. The system gets overloaded and the wastewater ends up in the Harbor. You can see it yourself, the Harbor is green on better days. On those wetter days, water at Wollaston beach looks like water breaking over a sandbar on the mississippi. The difference is even more stark after a trip a few miles off shore and you return to the inner harbor. Its amazing how much cleaner the water is on the other side of Islands.