Estuario Weekly Update
Estuarine greetings! Below, we share the opportunities for collaboration, volunteering and training for this week, through initiatives and programmed actions in benefit of the ecosystems and communities of the San Juan Bay Estuary.
Family Day at the Condado Lagoon Natural Estuarine Reserve
A new Family Day is approaching!
On Saturday, June 1, 2024, starting at 9:00 a.m., we will have a professional training workshop for educators on the biodiversity of the Estuary’s urban forests, a kayak tour, sports activities, a scavenger hunt (with Green Contact hours), an endemic bird talk (with Green Contact hours), and Cine del Estuario. We’ll have more information in our next update.
Save the date!
Cine del Estuario
After the Family Day, Cine del Estuario presents: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, on Saturday, June 1, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. in the Jaime Benítez Park of the Condado Lagoon Natural Estuarine Reserve. The film will be screened in Spanish, with English subtitles. As always, this feature is free of cost. Bring your blanket or chair!
Call for Estuario Artists-in-Residence
The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership is looking for proposals from artists to support the restoration work of the Juan Méndez Creek. See the call, in estuario.org/empleos.
Learn more about the Estuario’s Resident Artists at estuario.org/artistasresidentes.
Employment Opportunities
Curriculum and Assessment Specialist – The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership is seeking to hire a Curriculum and Assessment Specialist to prepare the curriculum in Spanish for a Professional Certification on Participatory Bird Census and Characterization and Reduction of Microplastics Module.
Stakeholder and Engagement Manager – The Stakeholder and Engagement Manager assists the Executive Director and the Management Conference with engagement, educational, and outreach activities.
Accountant – The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership is seeking qualified applications for an Accountant to join our highly skilled team for projects receiving funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Economic Valuation Study – Request for Proposals – The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership is looking to engage a professional consultant(s) to conduct an economic valuation study to determine the current economic value of the natural resources and services in the San Juan Bay Estuary watershed.
Citizen Scientists Certification
Water Quality Module:
Coastal Resilience Module:
Kilómetros de cambio
This Friday, we’re running with Kilómetros de Cambio!
The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership is an ally of this relay race throughout the island, in benefit of women victims of violence.
Estuario’s Executive Director, Brenda Torres, will run on Stretch #7, from Quebradillas to Aguadilla (13.55 miles), on May 17, 2024.
Stretch #7 will be captained by Olympic triathlete, Melissa Rios.
We understand that the state of our environment reflects our quality of life and that, in order to achieve environmental justice, resilience, or access to clean water, it is necessary to eradicate violence from our communities. Learn more about Kilómetros de Cambio, here.
Oil & Grease Management Education Effort
On Thursday, May 9 and Friday, May 10, 2024, we visited around 50 businesses in Calle Loíza, in Santurce, to discuss and guide them on the correct handling and disposal of used cooking oils and grease.
In addition to the correct handling of oils and grease, we provided literature touching on the topics of inspection processes by regulatory agencies, legal bases, and the environmental benefits of executing good practices.
We thank the staff of the businesses we visited, and their positive reception to this effort!
This effort is possible thanks to the collaboration of the San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership with the Office of Environmental Compliance and Planning of the Municipality of San Juan and the Oil and Grease Control Program of the Aqueducts and Sewer Authority of Puerto Rico. It’s part of the community campaign, Que no toque el piso ni llegue al agua.
Educating Our Communities on Resource and Waste Management
Last Friday, May 10, four students began an education and awareness internship in resource and waste management with Estuario. Over the next 10 weeks, these youth will support the San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership’s education efforts related to the management of resources and waste in the basin, especially in the management of oils and grease. This effort will be coordinated with the Intermunicipal Network for the Integrated Management of Resources and Waste in the watershed. We hope this internship will be one of benefit and learning!
Water Quality Day in numbers
On Saturday, April 13, the sixteenth Water Quality Day of Puerto Rico was held.
Over 1,000 people participated from around 200 monitoring stations throughout the island. View the collected monitoring data on the event portal.
We thank the sponsors of the sixteenth Water Quality Day of Puerto Rico: Environmental Protection Agency Region 2, EarthEcho, Ford de Puerto Rico Environmental Donations, MAPFRE, and the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources of Puerto Rico.
We are also grateful for the collaboration of: Surfrider Rincón, the Community Water Network, Ponce Health Sciences University, the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Fajardo campus, the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus, EcoExploratorio of the Puerto Rico Science Museum, BoriCorps in Salinas, AmeriCorps, the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan, and the groups Homeschoolers from Guayanilla and Morovis.
Thanks also to the over one thousand people who, through this event, demonstrated the importance of assessing and protecting our bodies of water. Until next year!
Other activities
Coastal vegetation plantings:
On Saturday, April 27, 2024, we carried out a planting of coastal vegetation in Playita San Gerónimo of the Condado Lagoon, as part of the Coastal Resilience Module of Estuario’s Citizen Scientists Certification.
Sixteen citizen scientists planted some 187 specimens of various types of coastal vegetation, together with the coordinators, Agnes Pagán and Andreína Alexatos.
They also took time to discuss the importance of incorporating green infrastructure as a method to strengthen our coastlines.
Then, on Saturday, May 4th, 30 participants accompanied Andreína Alexatos in the planting of around 311 red, white and black mangrove specimens in Playa Jobos, Isabela. This planting was done in collaboration with Surfrider Foundation.
For more coastal reforestation opportunities, check out the events scheduled as part of Estuario’s Citizen Scientists Certification’s Coastal Resilience Module, at: estuario.org/ccc.
Weekly Water Quality Monitoring
Evaluation carried out Thursday, May 16, 2024. We have a GREEN flag for the Condado Lagoon. Some stations, howevert, exceeded the Beach Action Value water quality standard for enterococci of 70 CFU/100 ML—we recommend avoiding these areas. Have a good weekend.
