Estuario Weekly Update
An estuarine greeting! This holiday season, we thank you for being a part of our mission to restore and conserve the San Juan Bay Estuary and connected ecosystems. This year has brought advances, changes and new initiatives. We have achieved our proposed goals thanks to the collaborators, volunteers, neighbors and friends who have worked alongside us. We wish you joy, and may this new year be one of health, love and successes. Happy Holidays!
New Estuario Vehicle Registration Plates
On Tuesday, December 17, 2024, the San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership (SJBEP) unveiled the second edition of the San Juan Bay Estuary (SJBE) Plates, together with the automotive company Gómez Hermanos Paulson (GHP), at the San Juan Chevrolet GMC dealership. During the presentation, GHP signed a commitment agreement for the purchase of approximately 5,000 plates in 2025, thus contributing an amount of over $100,000 to the Special Fund for the San Juan Bay Estuary.
The SJBEP applauds the social and environmental commitment of GHP and its president and co-owner, Víctor Gómez III. We invite all sectors to follow the example of these new collaborators—joining efforts to achieve a metropolitan region with clean waters and a healthy estuary.
The SJBE Plate has a cost of $30, of which $20 are destined to the Special Fund for the San Juan Bay Estuary, created after Act No. 48 of 2009. Ask for the Estuario Plate at your CESCO office.
Become a collaborator for the Water Quality Day of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico’s largest citizen science event is back!
Since 2009, the Water Quality Day of Puerto Rico has brought together citizen scientists across the Island to assess bodies of water and raise awareness about the importance of conserving our rivers, lakes, lagoons, and beaches.
In the run-up to the event, the SJBEP is recruiting collaborators to facilitate training workshops, deliver materials to participants, and lead monitoring in spaces open to the public. Join us! We will be holding a collaborators orientation meeting on Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
The seventeenth Water Quality Day of Puerto Rico will be on Saturday, April 5, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. General registration will open in March 2025.
Activities of the Coastal Resilience module
On Saturday, December 7, 2024, 21 volunteers carried out a planting of coastal vegetation in the Condado Lagoon Natural Estuarine Reserve, as part of the Coastal Resilience module of the Estuario Certification for Citizen Scientists. The participants, teachers of the University of Puerto Rico’s SEPA program, planted some 671 specimens of red mangrove and button mangrove. We thank Professor Michelle Borrero, who led the group.
The SJBEP, in collaboration with Surfrider Puerto Rico, participated in a planting of coastal vegetation in the Guajataca River, in Quebradillas, on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. In this event, 14 participants planted some 658 specimens of red mangrove, white mangrove and button mangrove, among other species.
Learn more about the Estuario Coastal Resilience module, in estuario.org/ccc.
Certification for Citizen Scientists
Below are the upcoming events. See more information, at estuario.org/ccc.
Water Quality Monitoring Module:
Employment opportunities
Media coverage
Roberto Ortiz. December 17, 2024. Impulso a programa del Estuario de la Bahía de San Juan. Estilo de Vida. Metro PR. Web. https://www.metro.pr/estilo-vida/2024/12/17/impulso-a-programa-del-estuario-de-la-bahia-de-san-juan/
December 17, 2024. Empresa automotriz anuncia compromiso con el Estuario de la Bahía de San Juan. Economía. NotiCel. Web. https://www.noticel.com/economia/20241217/empresa-automotriz-anuncia-compromiso-con-el-estuario-de-la-bahia-de-san-juan/
December 17, 2024. Alianza ambiental entre empresa automotriz y Estuario de la Bahía de San Juan. Salud y Ambiente. WIPR. Web. https://wipr.pr/alianza-ambiental-entre-empresa-automotriz-y-estuario-de-la-bahia-de-san-juan/
December 18, 2024. Gómez Hermanos Paulson allocates $100K to San Juan Bay Estuary. Environment. News is my Business. Web. https://newsismybusiness.com/gomez-hermanos-paulson-allocates-100k-to-san-juan-bay-estuary/?mc_cid=2bf0bc7f03
Weekly Water Quality Monitoring
Assessment conducted on Wednesday, December 18, 2024. We have a RED flag for the Condado Lagoon. We recommend avoiding all the areas that exceeded the Beach Action Value water quality parameter of 70 CFU/100 ML. Remember to avoid the water during precipitation events.
