Bay-Friendly Tips

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Take These Bay-Friendly Actions to Protect and Improve Narragansett Bay

A Bay-Friendly yard.

In Your Home & Backyard

Lawn fertilizer, household waste and pets can be major sources of pollution to Narragansett Bay. With these tips, prevent pollution while also saving money, time and water.

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Fishing Boat

On The Water

All who enjoy our local waters—whether that’s in it, on it, or around it— can help keep it clean by practicing a few simple, responsible tips.

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In Your Neighborhood

It takes a village to keep our drinking waters clean and our Bay swimmable, fishable and healthy. You can make a big difference for clean water in your neighborhood, town and state.

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Did you know?

  • You can give your grass up to one-third of its nutrient needs by leaving clippings on the lawn.
  • Longer grass is healthier than shorter grass.
  • Most lawns down need irrigation and naturally survive droughts by doing dormant in the summer.
  • Fertilizer from your yard can pollute local waters.
  • It’s illegal to feed ducks and geese in Rhode Island.
  • One goose can produce up to a pound of poop per day.
  • Dog and goose poop that washes off the land is a leading cause of beach closures.
  • Volunteers collected 16,484 pounds of trash from RI beaches on a single day in 2017.
  • Even miles from the shoreline, everything that goes down a storm drain finds its way to our local waters.
  • Dog poop can take over one year to decay. Bacteria and parasites in dog poop can linger in the soil and seep into groundwater.
  • One tiny gram of dog poop contains 23 million coliform bacteria. It can also transmit e.coli. salmonella, parvo, and tapeworms.

Action Apps

Report pollution when you see it

Water ReporterThe Water Reporter App is the perfect way to let Save The Bay know when there’s a problem in our local waters. You can be our eyes and noses across the watershed. So if you see or smell anything that might be pollution, snap a photo, write a caption and send it to us on Water Reporter.

Available on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

Hold your own shoreline cleanup

Clean Swell AppThe Clean Swell App lets volunteers upload important cleanup data in real-time to the world’s largest marine debris database. This database is used by scientists, conservation groups, governments and industry leaders to study ocean trash and take action to ensure trash never reaches our beaches.

Available on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

Report flooding and storm surges

My Coast Logo

The MyCoast App lets you upload pictures that capture the highest tides, show storm damage and erosion and record localized flooding. By recording these events, you’ll help decision-makers, emergency managers and others make better decisions about how to protect our coastal communities and assets.

Available on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

*Please note:  Be sure to access the Johnson & Wales University Harborside Campus through the main entrance on Harborside Blvd. Your GPS may suggest taking Ernest Street to JWU’s Shipyard Street entrance, but that route requires a key card for entry.  

From Route I-95 North or South, take Exit 18 (Thurbers Avenue). Head downhill on Thurbers Avenue to US Route 1A (Allens Avenue). Turn right onto Allens Ave. Continue southbound on Allens Ave. into Cranston, where Allens Ave. becomes Narragansett Blvd. Turn left onto Harborside Blvd. at the traffic light by the Shell gas station. Follow Harborside Blvd. through the Johnson & Wales Harborside Campus. At the end of Harborside Blvd., turn right onto Save The Bay Drive. Save The Bay Drive becomes a circular, one-way roadway as you approach the Bay Center. Parking is available in four guest lots after you pass the main building. Enter the building through the main entrance.

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