Scientists at the Narragansett Bay Commission are getting a new building at the Field’s Point campus. That’s where the wastewater agency will house labs with the latest technology.
Spokeswoman Jamie Samons said Narragansett Bay Commission scientists have always worked with expensive equipment to monitor and analyze water quality. But they’ve worked in small, cramped labs. The new spacious building scheduled to open this spring will include top-of-the-line technology that detects pollutants at finer resolutions.
“In some cases, it will save our ratepayers some money because we’ll be able to see exactly what level any pollutants are at, rather than assuming,” said Samons.
That level of detection will guide – more precisely – the amount of chemicals the treatment plant uses to treat water.
“It lets us see at a much more granular level what’s happening in the water,” said Samons. “We can look at not only our own water samples, but also water samples from the industries that we regulate.”
The EPA’s top water official Joel Beauvais visited the Field’s Point facility this week. Samons said Beauvais was checking out the building that will house the new labs.
The wastewater agency will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new building in June.