Clean water supports the Bay’s many benefits
For her senior independent research in Marine Biology, Brown University undergraduate researcher Karen Cortes (Class of 2014) synthesized the water quality data available for Narragansett Bay. Her work highlights the importance of water quality for many of nature’s benefits, including food provision, recreation and coastal protection.
She summarizes her findings in a two page brief as well as a full report, which includes maps of how the Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) project has led to improvements in bay water quality in the last decade.
In May Spring 2014, Karen delivered copies of this work to Watershed Counts and partner organizations in Rhode Island, including the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM), the Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC), the Narragansett Bay National Estuary Research Reserve System (NEERS), and The Nature Conservancy.
To learn more about Karen’s work or related projects in the Leslie Lab, please contact Heather_Leslie(at)brown.edu.