PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — What makes Southern New England such a gem?
Narragansett Bay is always on the list.
The bay, once filled with toxins and sewage, has come a long way thanks to Save The Bay and many volunteers.
Save the Bay Executive Director Topher Hamblett has been part of the team fiercely guarding our precious, irreplaceable natural resource, Narragansett Bay, our rivers and streams, for much of his life — more than 30 years.
“I feel a sense of pride about it, but I also feel like I need to protect it still,” Hamblett said.
As a child growing up in Barrington, he remembers first becoming aware of pollution.
“It bothered me as a kid that I couldn’t go swimming in the beach in my community,” Hamblett said.
The abuse of Narragansett Bay and rivers began during the Industrial Revolution. There was a time when raw sewage flowed directly into the water.
Hamblett said the Providence River was in effect, an open sewer.
In 1970, Save the Bay was officially formed and went to work, pushing for laws to protect the water with fines for those who didn’t follow the rules, educating the public, organizing volunteer cleanups, and monitoring.
And it’s working.
“Shellfishing is now allowed up into the Providence River now, which was unthinkable when we were young,” Hamblett said.
Cresent Park Beach in East Providence is open for swimming, with Sabin Point not far behind.
What grade would Hamblett put on the condition of the bay?
“That’s tough. It’s never been an A since I’ve been here. I think we’ve gone from an F to maybe a B.”
Hamblett’s biggest concern ahead is rising sea level, intense storms and what that is doing to our coastline and seaside communities, threatening, over time, more homes, buildings, beaches and saltmarshes.
“We’re going to have to start moving back in a thoughtful, orderly, fairway,” Hamblett said. “And that is a profoundly challenging task ahead for Rhode Islanders.”
Some communities are already doing that.
Hamblett’s message to all of us: “Get involved in taking care of Narragansett Bay.”
Hamblett says that everyone in Rhode Island has been a part of Save the Bay’s accomplishments because voters have consistently gone to the polls and voted to invest in the cleanup of the bay.
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