“Save the Bay” Launches New App to Submit Pictures, Report Problems

April 26, 2018 5:14 pm

By: Tim Studebaker

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Your day on the water probably already comes with plenty of picture taking. Now, snapping photos could help "Save the Bay." The organization is launching a new "Water Reporter" app so that you can help them find problem areas.

Save the Bay’s Narragansett Baykeeper Mike Jarbeau says, “In the Narragansett Bay watershed, we’ve got almost 2,000 square miles of area, and we’re concerned about a lot of things that happen in the watershed. So, what this app does is allows people to extend our reach throughout the watershed and in the bay.”

With the app, you can report anything that doesn’t look right to you.

Jarbeau says, “Things we’re especially concerned about [are] pollution sources, pipes leaking any kind of material into the water, fish kills. Maybe there’s a particularly dirty beach that really needs our attention with our beach cleanup program.”

If you see a problem area, you just snap a picture and send it in using the app. Along with your picture, geolocation data tells Save the Bay exactly when and where the picture was taken. The app already had its first big test, when plastic from the East Providence Wastewater Treatment Plant overflowed into the bay during a storm.

Jarbeau says, “So we were able to leverage the app and get our volunteers out on the beaches to identify large concentrations of these plastic pieces.”

If you want to learn about Save the Bay, visit their website here: http://www.savebay.org/

To download the Water Reporter app, follow this link: https://www.waterreporter.org/