Harbor seals can be found sharing the water with container ships near the busy docks of the Port of Providence. Photo by Jason Major, Nov. 2015.

Narragansett Bay and the inflowing waters of the Providence River weren’t always as clean as they might appear today. It wasn’t very long ago at all that discharge from RI’s many industrial companies flowed directly into the Bay, polluting the waters and inciting the growth of harmful algae and bacteria—not to mention creating some interesting smells around many of the Bay’s inlets and coves.

Thanks to the efforts of organizations like Save the Bay, forward-thinking city planners, and environmental regulations like the 1972 Clean Water Act, Narragansett Bay is in better shape than it has been in ages, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. FoSG charter member Mary Grady has covered this ongoing story in a recent article for R.I. Monthly—read the full article here.