Governor’s Bay Day, when all Rhode Island state beaches celebrate the Ocean State by offering free admission and parking, was washed out by a driving rain yesterday. This is bad news for Rhode Island even if you didn’t miss a free beach day yesterday.

“Our beaches will be the bellwether of climate change,” said Judith Swift, executive director of URI’s Coastal Institute. “Not only will we lose beaches due to sea level rise, but increased precipitation will add additional pollutants to our beaches from stormwater runoff.”

Swift was speaking about the new 2014 Watershed Counts report, released today (you can read the full report here). But weather like yesterday’s is one of the reasons we should pay close attention to the report’s findings.

“Beach closures,” according to the press release, “are very much dependent upon rainfall, as stormwater flushes out pollutants and bacteria that close both beaches and shellfishing areas.”

The report explains: “Annual average precipitation … has been increasing over the last century and this trend is projected to continue. When you look at the pattern of rainfall, something else becomes apparent: the frequency of intense rainfall events has also increased. When we get large amounts of precipitation in a short amount of time, the stormwater runoff can overwhelm our treatment facilities and result in sewage being flushed into the Narragansett Bay.”

And shows it in a cartoon, as well:

There were 41 beach closures last summer. This summer there are currently five closures – at First Beach in Middletown, the Bristol and Warren town beaches and two beaches in Tiverton. This rain event will surely lead to even more this week. (RI Future reported on the scientific causes of beach closures, their economic effects and how RI monitors the water last summer).

But the good news is while we had heavy rains last summer, we experienced fewer beach closings than previous summers. There were 86 beach closures in 2009, 55 in 2010 and 45 in 2011. The Watershed Counts report says the counter-intuitive decrease in closures can be attributed because of public investments to control stormwater runoff, sewer overflow.

“Using green infrastructure and other best management practices to protect beach water quality is paying off,” said Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit. “DEM welcomes the opportunity to partner with cities and towns to enhance what is a time-honored Rhode Island tradition – enjoying a glorious day at the beach.”

A clean water/open space bond on the November ballot, if approved by voters, would invest $20 million to further clean water and segregate sewage and stormwater overflow, according to the report, but that’s only a fraction of the need. “Municipalities and the Narragansett Bay Commission have identified more than $1.8 billion dollars of needed clean water in frastructure improvements ranging from wastewater treatment upgrades and storm water quality improvements to combined sewer overflow abatement projects,” according to DEM in the report.

“The opportunity to promote and invest in a beautiful Rhode Island is significant, and the need for that investment is immediate,” according to a DEM statement in the report. “Rhode Island’s greatest natural resource and a key driver to economic growth—Narragansett Bay—is threatened by polluted run-off and the damaging effects of climate change. Conversely, local food markets are booming, horticultural, and agricultural and landscape companies are doing more local business than ever, and our $2.26 billion dollar tourism sector is growing.”

According to the press release, there has been a “surprising” lack of support from the state to monitor water quality at local beaches.

“The funding for marine beach monitoring comes mostly from federal sources. The National Beach Program provided over $200,000 to both Rhode Island and Massachusetts in 2013,” it reads. “The state budgets contained no funding, despite the fact that beaches are an economic driver, and that the federal monitoring program for saltwater beaches has recently been at issue for possible elimination in federal budget talks.”

Chris Cifelli is the general manager of the Iggy’s, the West Bay’s best-known clam shack that abuts Oakland Beach. He wouldn’t go on camera but he told me beach closures have a significant affect on business. “There’s no doubt. People don’t come if the beach is closed.”

He said they still get a healthy lunch and dinner crowd “but in the afternoon, when people stop in after going to the beach, we don’t have that anymore.”

Beach closures due to heavy loads of sewer and road runoff have become commonplace in the West Bay. Warwick beaches dominate the list of most days closed due to pollution both this year and since the state began keeping records in 2000. City officials acknowledge Warwick has far too many failing suburban septic tanks.

The General Assembly this year, as in past years, failed to act on legislation that would require septic system upgrades for failing systems if and when the real estate is sold. There are more than 25,000 septic systems in Rhode Island that fail to prevent waste from leeching into groundwater and, by extension, Narragansett Bay.

But this year beach closures are no longer an isolated issue in the upper areas of Narragansett Bay. Climate change is warming our water and causing more summertime moisture all alonf the East Coast; as a result the pollution problems of the warmer, shallower, upper parts of Narragansett Bay now belong to the lower Bay too.

Narragansett and Newport, two of the Ocean State’s most iconic beach towns whose reputations and economies are directly linked to the success of the summer crowd, have both experienced a record number of beach closures this summer.

Rep. Teresa Tanzi, Narragansett/South Kingstown, said the economic effect is bigger than just individual dollars not spent because of beach days missed.

“It’s a loss of confidence that people have in our reputation,” she said – those who vacationed in Rhode Island this year and missed a day of swimming at Bonnet Shores or Narragansett Town Beach might decide to go to Connecticut or Massachusetts beaches next year.

“It affects all of Rhode Island,” she said.

This loss of confidence certainly seems to be having an effect on Oakland Beach this year. It was a perfect beach day, and the water was deemed clean, but there was almost no one swimming.

Oakland Beach is a bustling, if out-of-the-way, summertime economic engine on Greenwich Bay in Warwick. There’s a popular clam shack, some sit down places, a few mini-marts and even a Harley Davidson dealer … all of which are in business to make money off those spending a summer day at the beach.

Meanwhile, the beach here has been closed to swimming for almost all of July and 24 days in total since mid-June.

Oakland Beach is the poster child for why beach closures matter to the Ocean State. This community’s economy, like so many in Rhode Island, ebbs and flows with the strength or weakness of summer. But Oakland Beach’s proximity to suburbia and its calm, warm waters have become it’s biggest detriments. These conditions are a perfect storm for a beach too polluted to swim at.

The issue is widespread in Warwick, where local beaches have been closed or almost 50 days in total this summer. From 2000 to 2012, according to health department data, Conimicut Point in Warwick has been closed more than any other beach in the state, with 230 days. Oakland Beach is second with 190 closed days. City Park in Warwick had its beach closed 119 times since 2000 and Goddard Park has been closed 110 times. There are only two other beaches in the state that have been closed more than 100 days during that time.

This is why Save The Bay has invited state legislators and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedesian here for a press event.