Enivironmental Affairs Announces Volunteer Coastal Monitoring Grants

February 9, 1998
Contact: Anne Donovan
(617) 727-9530 x411

The Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) announced grant awards today totaling more than $50,000 under the Volunteer Coastal Monitoring Grants Program. The 11 grant recipients are non- profit organizations or municipalities that organize volunteers to collect water samples in coastal waters to test for bacteria and pollutants. These grant recipients are: Coalition for Buzzards Bay, Cotuit Civic Association, Falmouth Pond Watchers, Fore River Watershed Association, Ipswich River Watershed Association, Neponset River Watershed Association, North and South Rivers Watershed Association, Orleans Water Quality Task Force, Salem Sound 2000, Trustees of the Reservations/Manchester Board of Health, and the Westport River Watershed Alliance. These volunteer monitoring groups will receive up to $5,000 for the purchase of field and laboratory equipment and supplies, independent sample analysis, as well as for volunteer training.

"Citizen monitoring groups are critical for helping the state keep an eye on the quality of our coastal waters," said EOEA Secretary Trudy Coxe. "The people involved with these groups should be commended for their commitment to healthy waters and we are glad to provide them with direct support through the grant program."

The state legislature appropriated funds for EOEA to establish a volunteer marine monitoring program. In recognition of the importance of citizen monitoring groups, Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (MCZM), which is implementing the program, is focusing a significant portion of the marine monitoring funds to support and expand the efforts of citizen monitoring groups.

"Volunteer monitors provide a unique service to coastal communities and the state by overseeing our coastal waters on a continual basis," emphasized Peg Brady, MCZM Director. "As the projects funded by the Volunteer Coastal Monitoring Grants Program show, they educate their communities about the importance of clean waters to resources such as shellfish beds, while supplementing the data collected by state agencies."

For example, the Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA) will use the grant to support a stormwater sampling project on storm drains impacting anadromous fish spawning areas. An extensive survey by the Division of Marine Fisheries identified and evaluated anadromous fish habitat in the Neponset estuary. The findings show that stormwater pollution from storm drains is a major cause of degraded habitat and the decline in herring and smelt. The grant will be used to purchase sampling supplies and to pay for sample analysis to measure nutrient and bacteria levels.

"We're trying to understand how stormwater affects the Neponset smelt run and the potential to restore this herring run, which has been a goal the Association since it began 30 years ago," said Ian Cooke, the Executive Director of NepRWA. "This grant will help us reach this goal and fill the gap."

Salem Sound 2000 (SS2000) used its grant from last year's funding round to sample stormwater, which led to the discovery of a sewer-stormdrain connection that has been discharging 70,000 gallons of raw sewage daily to the North River. Since volunteers found the pollution, Salem has already eliminated the discharge. This year, SS2000 will be purchasing additional equipment to better locate other major pollution sources.

"This grant is going to allow us to expand our long term fecal coliform monitoring program to look at storm water influences in addition to our regularly monitored sites," said Jeremy Sokulsky, Director of SS2000. "We will also be able to purchase equipment to measure flow during peak flow periods. This combination will enable us to compare the influences of dry and wet weather flows to the Salem Sound and give us the means to prioritize our future work with municipalities to focus them on remediating the most significant sources of pollution to the Sound."

This effort complements EOEA's overall focus on a watershed approach to environmental management, which looks at watersheds (or land areas that drains into a major body of water) as defined environmental management regions. Pollutants that are released to the land (such as excess fertilizers on lawn or cropland) or to the air (such as car exhaust) make their way to rivers and streams that ultimately run into lakes, reservoirs, or the sea. The Massachusetts Watershed Initiative recognizes that all these activities are connected and works to integrate environmental planning and management for all of the state's 27 river basins. MCZM's marine monitoring program focuses on coastal embayments and estuaries that are impacted by human activities occurring throughout watersheds in Massachusetts that drain to the coast. The Volunteer Coastal Monitoring Grants specifically target areas where activities in the watershed are impacting important coastal resources, so that monitoring data can be used to solve these problems in the future.

The Cellucci Administration is committed to watershed-based planning and management, and more than $1.8 million in new funds are proposed in the Governor's Fiscal Year 1999 budget for the Massachusetts Watershed Initiative's efforts. This budget also calls for doubling the marine monitoring funding, the source of the Volunteer Coastal Monitoring Program Grants, from $200,000 to $400,000.

The Volunteer Coastal Monitoring Grants are just one piece of the marine monitoring program. MCZM is developing specific monitoring projects around the coast to identify particular areas of pollution concern. If you are interested in learning more about the state marine monitoring program, contact Christian Krahforst, MCZM Marine Scientist, at (617) 727-9530, ext. 415.

VOLUNTEER COASTAL MONITORING GRANT RECIPIENTS AND PROJECTS

1) Coalition for Buzzards Bay, Buzzards Bay Communities - $5,000
Contact: Pamela Truesdale - (508) 759-1440
For upgrading current sampling supplies and materials used to sample 28 embayments in Buzzards Bay for nitrogen levels to assess the overall health of Buzzards Bay.

2) Cotuit Civic Association, Mashpee/Barnstable - $4,900
Contact: Ken Molloy - (508) 428-3815
For nutrient and fecal coliform sample analysis to better understand nitrogen loading to Shoestring Bay.

3) Falmouth Pond Watchers, Falmouth - $5,000
Contact: Dr. Brian Howes - (508) 910-6316
For refurbished sampling equipment, oxygen kits, bottles, filtration supplies, and other materials to support this nationally-recognized model program that monitors the health of Falmouth's coastal ponds through nutrient monitoring.

4) Fore River Watershed Association, Weymouth and Quincy - $5,000
Contact: Samantha Woods - (508) 833-6600
For a flow meter and nitrogen and phosphorous sample analysis to test a nitrogen sensitive embayments model.

5) Ipswich River Watershed Association, Ipswich - $2,700
Contact: Daniele Lantagne - (978) 356-8939
For lab analysis to support a stormwater sampling program at five stormwater sites.

6) Neponset River Watershed Association, Watershed communities from Walpole to Boston - $4,642
Contact: Ian Cooke - (781) 575-0354
For supplies and analysis to conduct a stormwater sampling program to identify storm drain impacts to smelt spawning grounds.

7) North and South Rivers Watershed Association, Scituate, Marshfield, and neighboring communities - $5,000
Contact: Steve Ivas - (781) 659-8168
For wet and dry weather surveys and sample analysis for fecal coliform to understand bacteria loading to the South River.

8) Orleans Water Quality Task Force, Orleans - $3,692.79
Contact: Joe McCarthy - (508) 255-4648
For supplies to support a nutrient monitoring program.

9) Salem Sound 2000, Salem, Beverly, and neighboring communities - $4,092
Contact: Jeremy Sokulsky - (978) 741-7900
For equipment and lab materials for an on-going stormwater sampling program.

10) Trustees of the Reservations/Manchester Board of Health, Manchester - $5,000
Contact: Jim Groleau - (978) 526-8757
For sample analysis for a bacteria sampling program for Clark's Pond.

11) Westport River Watershed Alliance, Westport - $5,000
Contact: Gay Gillespie - (508) 636-3016
For sample analysis for the Alliance's on-going nutrient monitoring program.