Newport’s Seaside Problems

By Chip Young

More beach closings and a “red tide” that isn’t

Newport, Rhode Island’s City by the Sea, has had a rough ride recently when it comes to problems regarding the beaches and waterfront that are its calling cards.

A lawsuit by filed on behalf of local citizens by two environmental organizations has pointed out the long—and currently losing—fight the city has fought against pollution of its beaches, Newport Harbor, and, by extension, a Middletown beach.  Local officials claim they are doing everything they can to halt the closing of tourist and local attractions like Easton’s Beach, commonly known as First Beach, and the adjacent Atlantic Beach Club Beach; and to improve the water quality of Newport Harbor, which continues to suffer from stormwater overflow problems.  The kicker is the red seaweed that is rampant throughout the waves and on the shore at Easton’s and Atlantic Beach Club beaches, about as appealing to swimmers as jumping into a mud puddle.  The algae are in themselves not harmful to bathers, but pollution, like politics, is all about perception.

Newport has been fighting water quality issues for decades.  It is like having a bad back.  Always present, always painful. Back in 1985, I stood with Michael Keating, president of Save the Bay at the time, on the steps of City Hall during a press conference, as he displayed for the media a one-gallon pickle jar full of water we had just retrieved from Newport Harbor at Long Wharf.  You didn’t have to be a genius to see what was floating in the water. “Revolting” would be an understatement. And yet this is the water that the winning skipper of the America’s Cup, then one of Newport’s crown jewels as a worldwide attention-getter, would be thrown into after the competition.  “I went to Newport and all I got was this lousy Cup and an ear infection.”

The reason for the current beach closings was the same as the problem back in 1985: stormwater runoff and sewer overflows, and stressed treatment capabilities at its wastewater treatment plant.  In 1986, Newport debuted its new, improved treatment facility to great fanfare.  This was to be the solution to all the sewage problems for years to come.  Those years came too quickly, as did development.  The treatment plant, which serves both Newport and Middletown, is now at full capacity, overburdened by the demands of increased growth.  That same expansion continues to contribute to the polluted stormwater that plagues the harbor and beaches, as more and more people and sidewalks and parking lots spew toxins into the runoff.

Environment Rhode Island and the Boston-based National Environment Law Foundation, which are providing the backing and legal assistance to the local residents who brought the lawsuit against Newport for ongoing federal Clean Water Act violations, say all they are looking for is a timetable to clean up these problems.  They aren’t looking for fines that would further punish a municipality in the midst of a financial crunch.  They just want a timetable and real action. But the town leadership is still crying poor, and from personal observations over the years, their attempts at mitigating the longstanding problems have been less than wholehearted or well-informed.

I have swum at First Beach for years, and have on occasion this year, the last time being two weeks ago.  I have a rough idea of how quickly the pollution will flush after a rain, and after a couple of tide changes and dirty weather, I am not too concerned.  I’m more concerned about catching a few good waves.  But I am not your average water dog.  There were other people in the water when I took the plunge, but hardly the number you would expect from a beach of that size during the wonderful weather we have been having, and the way the body-surfable waves were rolling in.  I imagine some were indeed kept out by the media-hyped stories about the pollution there.  And after rains the pollution is more than evident—you don’t need to be a scientist, just let your nose be the judge. 

I am certain many wannabe swimmers and boogie boarders stayed on the hot sand because of the perceived filth of the seemingly endless infestation and constant presence of the seaweed/algae known to scientists as spermothamnion repens, that chokes the water reddish-brown.  Many people mistakenly call it “red tide,” but it isn’t, nor is it harmful to humans.  The real red tide, which Little Rhody is thankfully free from, is similarly red-colored algae which contain toxins. These affect shellfish, which retain them when they filter feed, and they themselves are then consumed by hungry seafood lovers.  The resulting gastrointestinal reaction is enough to make you display the protective sign of the cross with your fingers in the direction of any red-tinted seaweed in the future.  Not helpful in Newport’s scenario.

Scientists conjecture that the local algae is breaking free from a reef or other hard surface where they have attached themselves not far off shore.  Heavy wave action or something hitting or gnawing them can free pieces from their solid foundation, and send them into the water column.  There, being ultralight and somewhat buoyant, and churned by the waves, they rise to the top, photosynthesize and grow in the sunlight, and wash ashore on the beach.  This onslaught is actually millions of small, two to three-inch pieces of algae, but the visual effect is that of an avalanche of slimy, clinging plantlike invaders that wind up in your mouth after you get spilled by a wave, or in crevices of your swimsuit or body that challenge your sense of invasion, hygiene and decency.

I have seen the visceral reaction of tourists as they stroll down along Memorial Boulevard past Cliffwalk and First Beach when they encounter the all-encompassing seaweed, which can only be exacerbated by the stories they hear about pollution.  It doesn’t matter if the connections they make aren’t scientifically valid.  They are very real to the people who tend to believe their lying eyes.

Newport’s leaders have a serious problem on their hands, no matter how they decide to resolve it.  One just hopes with all the value-added these beautiful natural resources provide on top of all the cultural, historic and artistic draws the City by the Sea possesses—and what they threaten to detract from those assets by being a visual and olfactory blot on the personal observation ledger—that they will find a will and a way to solve these ongoing problems quickly.  There isn’t much of an alternative, as the recent lawsuits have started the time clock ticking.