Weekly Estuary Update
Estuarine greetings! August arrives with new opportunities to learn, enjoy, and take action for our ecosystems. This week, we invite you to our Family Day Out, outdoor movie screenings, and urban tours, workshops, educational experiences, and training opportunities.
Family day out
Join us for a family day out at the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Nature Reserve on Saturday, August 2, 2025, starting at 3:00 pm at Jaime Benítez Park. We will have the following activities in celebration of mangrove ecosystems:
Sports activity [3:00 pm]
Educational estuarine games [4:00 pm] (Green Contact/community service)
Educational talk: Importance of mangrove ecosystems in estuarine ecosystems [5:00 pm] (Green Contact/community service)
Interpretive Tour: The Mangroves of the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Nature Reserve [6:00 pm] (Green Contact/Community Service)
See more information at estuary.org/events . No registration is required to participate. The family day out takes place on the first Saturday of each month. We hope to see you there!
Estuary Cinema presents: Dune: Part Two
Estuary Cinema presents Dune: Part Two (2024) on Saturday, August 2, 2025, at 7:00 pm in Jaime Benítez Park at the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Nature Reserve. The film will be shown in Spanish with English subtitles. This screening is free. Bring your blanket or chair! Estuary Cinema is presented on the first Saturday of every month.
Urban tour in Old San Juan
Join us for the urban tour: Discovering the connections between the city's water and the estuary; Saturday, August 9, 2025, from 8:00 am to 10:00 am in Old San Juan.
This activity counts towards Green Touch/community service hours. Register today at estuary.org/events.
There are still two weeks left to share your input on actions to improve the infrastructure of the San Juan metropolitan region
The draft of Action Plan #1 for the Estuary Plan review proposes 52 actions to maintain and improve obsolete and dilapidated gray and green infrastructure that negatively impacts water quality and sediments in the estuarine bed. These actions are divided into the following categories: sanitary sewer infrastructure, stormwater infrastructure, drainage and water exchange infrastructure, erosion and sediment transport mitigation, port and vessel infrastructure, transportation and mobility infrastructure, collaborative water quality monitoring, and impact analysis from areas outside the current study area.
Your opinion plays an important role in our efforts to:
💧 Improve water quality
🌳 Increase the amount of green areas
🌊 Prevent flooding
🪸 Restore ecosystems
You have until Friday, August 15, 2025 to share your comments via the form.
We greatly appreciate your support in sharing this information and ensuring that as many citizens, communities, scientists, and experts as possible can actively participate in this review.
Define with us the future of the waters of the San Juan metropolitan region. The Estuary Plan belongs to everyone, because we live with the Estuary.
Estuary provides workshop for educators
On Friday, July 11, we enthusiastically celebrated the workshop “Water + Trees to conserve our estuarine ecosystems”, together with a group of educators committed to the protection of our environment.
During the day, we explored the ecosystems of the San Juan Bay Estuary watershed, the vital role trees play in the health of our waters, the connection of water from the mountains to the coast, the importance of environmental education, and the restoration and conservation efforts we lead from the Estuary. Thank you to the educators who joined us!
Citizen Scientist Certification
Below are the activities scheduled for the coming weeks. See more information at estuary.org/ccc . These activities count toward community service and Green Touch hours.
Water Quality Monitoring Module
Water Quality Monitoring Workshop: Bacteriological Monitoring ; Thursday, August 7th, at 7:00 pm via Zoom
Water Quality Monitoring Workshop: Physical-Chemical Parameters ; Tuesday, August 12, at 7:00 pm via Zoom
Water Quality Monitoring Field Experience: Bacteriological Monitoring; Thursday, August 14, at 9:30 am at County Lagoon
Microplastics Characterization and Reduction Module
Microplastics Characterization and Reduction Workshop ; Thursday, August 14, at 7:00 pm via Zoom
Coastal Resilience Module
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Planting coastal vegetation; Saturday, August 2nd, at 8:00 am in Piñones, Loíza
Coastal Resilience Workshop: Ecological Assessment of Coral Reefs and Seagrasses ; Tuesday, August 5, at 7:00 pm via Zoom
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Ecological Assessment of Coral Reefs; Saturday, August 9, at 8:00 am at County Lagoon
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Ecological Assessment of Seagrasses; Saturday, August 9, at 12:00 pm at County Lagoon
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Ecological Assessment of Coral Reefs; Saturday, August 16, at 8:00 am at County Lagoon
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Ecological Assessment of Seagrasses; Saturday, August 16, at 12:00 pm at County Lagoon
Prepare yourself this hurricane season
Prepare for this hurricane season. Download the Estuary Community Hurricane Preparedness Guide and follow its recommendations. Your community's strength and resilience begin at home.
Also visit the Estuary Virtual Community Center , where you'll find vital information, such as relevant emergency numbers and instructions for preparing emergency kits.
Don't panic! Get ready.
Weekly bacteriological monitoring
Thanks to Ivelisse Cappielo and Luis Mercado, who supported the bacteriological monitoring on July 30, 2025, as part of the Water Quality Monitoring module of the Estuary Citizen Scientist Certification.
Here are the results:
Assessment conducted on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. We have a GREEN flag for County Lagoon. We recommend avoiding the area that exceeded the "Beach Action Value" water quality parameter for enterococci of 70 CFU/100 ML. Remember to avoid the water during rain events.
