TITLE 46
Waters and Navigation
CHAPTER 46-23.2
The Comprehensive Watershed and Marine Monitoring Act of 2004
SECTION 46-23.2-2
§ 46-23.2-2 Legislative findings.
(a) The general assembly finds and declares that there is a need for an
environmental monitoring system in the state that is capable of:
(1) Measuring the changing conditions in the functionality
and health of the waters of the state, including, but not limited to,
Narragansett Bay and its watersheds, with one purpose being identifying and
predicting potential problems in the marine and freshwater habitats;
(2) Providing a data-based management system that employs
central database via the internet to store an internet-based electronic system
to monitor, store and disseminate the analysis of this data to decision-makers
and the public;
(3) Establishing a mechanism to coordinate and make
consistent, monitoring efforts between government agencies, municipalities,
nonprofit organizations and universities; and
(4) Providing the comprehensive data needed to assess a
sudden perturbation in the marine and freshwater environments and to contribute
to efforts of disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery as
defined in chapter 15 of title 30 entitled "The Rhode Island Emergency
Management Act."
(b) The general assembly recognizes and declares that the
health of the waters of the state, including, but not limited to, Narragansett
Bay and its watersheds needs to be monitored comprehensively on a long-term
basis in order to be proactive in planning and responsive to potential problems
in the environment, including those that may arise due to a changing climate.
The availability of consistent environmental data supports planning and
management and provides resource managers, decision-makers and citizens with
information on how marine and freshwater habitats are responding to management
programs and what adjustments need to be made to existing programs or what new
programs must be implemented to achieve healthy marine and freshwater
environments.
(c) The general assembly recognizes the need for an
integrated mechanism by which individual monitoring efforts can be coordinated
and managed as a system in which the functionality of Narragansett Bay, its
watersheds and other watersheds are measured and individual planning and
management efforts are adjusted to respond to support effective environmental
management.
History of Section.
(P.L. 2004, ch. 144, § 1; P.L. 2004, ch. 210, § 1; P.L. 2015, ch.
141, art. 16, § 4.)