Estuario Weekly Update
Estuarine greetings! August arrives with new opportunities to learn, enjoy and act for our ecosystems. This week, we invite you to our Family Day, an outdoor movie screening, urban trails, workshops, educational experiences and training opportunities.
Family Day
Join the Family Day at the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Natural Reserve on Saturday, August 2, 2025, starting at 3:00 p.m. at Jaime Benítez Park. We will have the following activities, in celebration of mangrove ecosystems:
Sports Activity [3:00 p.m.]
Estuarine Educational Games [4:00 p.m.] (Contacto Verde/Community Service)
Educational Talk: Importance of Mangrove Ecosystems in Estuarine Ecosystems [5:00 p.m.] (Contacto Verde /Community Service)
Interpretive Tour: The Mangroves of the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Natural Reserve [6:00 p.m.] (Contacto Verde /Community Service)
See more information at: estuario.org/eventos. No registration is required to participate. The family day takes place on the first Saturday of each month. See you there!
Cine del Estuario presents Dune: Part Two
Cine del Estuario presents Dune: Part Two (2024); on Saturday, August 2, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. in the Jaime Benítez Park of the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Natural Reserve. The film will be screened in Spanish, with English subtitles. This feature is free of charge. Bring your blanket or chair! Cine del Estuario is presented on the first Saturday of each month.
Urban trail in Old San Juan
Join us on the urban trail: Discovering the connections between the city’s water and the estuary; on Saturday, August 9, 2025, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in Old San Juan.
This activity counts toward Contacto Verde/Community Service hours. Sign up today, at estuario.org/eventos.
Two weeks left to share your input on the actions to improve the infrastructure of the metropolitan region of San Juan
The draft Action Plan #1 of the San Juan Bay Estuary (SJBE) Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) revision proposes 52 actions to maintain and improve outdated and dilapidated gray and green infrastructure that negatively impacts water quality and sediment on the estuarine bed. The actions are divided into: Sanitary water, stormwater, drainage and water exchange infrastructure, to mitigate erosion and sediment transport, port and vessel, transport and mobility, collaborative monitoring of water quality and analysis of impacts from areas outside the current study area.
Your opinion plays an important role in efforts to:
💧 Improve water quality
🌳 Increase the amount of green areas
🌊 Prevent flooding
🪸 Restoring ecosystems
You have until Friday, August 15, 2025, to share your comments through 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 metropolitan region of San Juan. This Plan belongs to everyone, because we live in the Estuary.
Estuario provides workshop to educators
On Friday, July 11, we enthusiastically held 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 SJBE watershed, the vital role that 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 that we lead from the San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership (SJBEP). Thank you to the educators who joined us!
Certification for Citizen Scientists
Below are the activities scheduled for the coming weeks. See more information in estuario.org/ccc. These activities count toward Contacto Verde and community service hours.
Water Quality Monitoring Module
Water Quality Monitoring Workshop: Bacteriological monitoring; Thursday, August 7, at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom
Water Quality Monitoring Workshop: Physical-chemical parameters; Tuesday, August 12, at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom
Water Quality Monitoring Field Experience: Bacteriological Monitoring; Thursday, Aug. 14, at 9:30 a.m. at the Condado Lagoon
Microplastics Characterization and Reduction Module
Workshop on Characterization and Reduction of Microplastics; Thursday, August 14, at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom
Coastal Resilience Module
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Planting coastal vegetation; on Saturday, August 2, at 8:00 a.m. in Piñones, Loíza
Coastal Resilience Workshop: Ecological Assessment of Coral Reefs and Seagrasses; Tuesday, August 5, at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Ecological Assessment of Coral Reefs; Saturday, August 9, at 8:00 a.m. at the Condado Lagoon
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Ecological Assessment of Seagrasses; Saturday, August 9, at 12:00 p.m. at the Condado Lagoon
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Ecological Assessment of Coral Reefs; Saturday, August 16, at 8:00 a.m. at the Condado Lagoon
Coastal Resilience Field Experience: Ecological Assessment of Seagrasses; Saturday, August 16, at 12:00 p.m. at the Condado Lagoon
Prepare for Hurricane Season
Get ready for this hurricane season. Download the Estuario Community Hurricane Preparedness Guide and follow its recommendations. The strength and resilience of your community starts at home.
Also visit the Estuario Virtual Community Hub, where you’ll find vital information such as relevant emergency numbers and instructions for preparing emergency backpacks.
Don’t get scared! Get prepared.
Weekly water quality monitoring
We thank Ivelisse Cappielo and Luis Mercado, who supported the bacteriological monitoring of July 30, 2025, as part of the Estuario Certification for Citizen Scientists’ Water Quality Monitoring module. Here are the results:
Evaluation carried out on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. We have a GREEN flag for the Condado Lagoon. We recommend avoiding the area that exceeded the “Beach Action Value” water quality parameter for 70 CFU/100 ML enterococci. Remember to avoid the water during rain events.
