The second in a series of four workshops on the city’s harbor management plan will be held Jan. 9 starting at 6 p.m. As the workshop coincides with the monthly scheduled Zoning Board meeting in the conference room of the Saw Tooth Annex, principal planner Sean Henry said a site other than the Saw Tooth Annex is being explored and will be posted.

Henry doesn’t anticipate the turnout anything like when the city’s Harbor Management Commission held the first workshop devoted to public access. That session was scheduled for an office conference room that had to be relocated to the Saw Tooth Annex atrium when more than 30 people showed up.

The focus this time is “water quality.”

“I don’t expect as much public interest,” said Henry.

And what can the Harbor Management Plan due to preserve and improve water quality?

Henry said the plan can look at sources leading to the pollution of the bay and cove waters.

“Recreational boating brings a lot of pollution,” he said referring to power boats.  With 39 miles of coastline it’s no wonder Warwick has a lot of boats. According to Department of Environmental Management data, Warwick has 18 marinas offering a total of 3,264 slips. In addition, the city has 686 moorings.

According to guidelines set forth by the Coastal Resources Management Council the city plan should set goals and recommendations that are consistent with CRMC goals “to protect and continually improve the water quality for the citizens of the state.”  It goes on to say the harbor management plan should “identify, measure and document all sources of both direct (point) and indirect (nonpoint) pollution and potential threats of pollution to these waters. Pollution from both land and water sources should be identified and the impacts of this pollution mitigated to the greatest extent practicable.”

How does Jody King, who chairs the city’s Harbor Review Commission see the issue of water quality?

“I’m asking for it to be dirtier,” he said laughing.

 But King is not joking. As an Oakland Beach resident who makes his living from Narragansett Bay, he has tracked the decline in shellfish which he believes is a byproduct of cleaner bay waters resulting from stricter controls on the release of nitrogen by waste water treatment plants and the development of the massive combined storm water and sewage underground containment system developed by the Narragansett Bay Commission. The system allows for the storage of waste water during extreme water incidents, so that it can be treated before release.

The system has been credited with enabling the opening of the lower stretch – about 1,000 acres -  of the Providence River to shellfishing for the first time in 70 years.

While King has benefited from opening the plentiful shellfish beds, he believes if more nitrogen is allowed to reach bay waters, it would stimulate the growth of plankton, a source of food for shellfish. This topic is a source of study a Special Legislative Commission To Study And Provide Recommendations On The Issues Relating To The Reduced Catch Of Quahogs in Narragansett Bay  created by a resolution introduced in the House by Warwick Representatives Joseph Solomon and David Bennett and in the Senate by Sen. Mark McKenney. The commission that started its work in October is co-chaired by Solomon and Sen. Alana DiMario (D-North Kingstown, Narragansett, New Shoreham). The topic is also being studied by a group from the URI Coastal Institute, of which King is a member. He expects that report to be finalized by April or May.

“Having more nitrogen doesn’t correlate with being dirtier,” Solomon said Wednesday when told of King’s comment. He said the commission has held four or five meetings and is “hearing from all the experts.” He expects a report to be released in February or March. And, he doubts that the a single source such as a decline in nitrogen will be labeled as the cause for a reduction in shellfish.

“I expect it to be a combination of factors,” he said mentioning global warming as a possible contributing cause.

Solomon hopes to attend the Warwick meeting.

Future workshops of the Warwick Harbor Management Commission will focus on mooring management and storm preparedness