New research effort to examine Long Island Sound water quality
Anew collaboration that adds testing spots in Fairfield and Westport will help officials get a better understanding for the state’s water quality.
The three-year water quality data collection and research effort is a joint project by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. It will be facilitated by the use of special buoys and manual testing in Fairfield, Westport, Norwalk and Mystic.
“USGS scientists will collect water quality samples from three locations along the Fairfield shoreline, providing water resource managers with a detailed understanding as to how, and to what extent, excessive amounts of nutrients affect the coastal bays of Long Island Sound,” said Brittney Izbicki, a USGS hydrologic technician.
Izbicki said the data will provide a detailed understanding of what
is in the water and how those things are impacting the sound. She said the effort will be completed in conjunction with USGS’s long-term monitoring at various watersheds in the state.
She said this new project will monitor water as it moves out into the mouth of the rivers, where conditions are different. The goal is to provide data to the state that can help improve water quality as well as people’s understanding of what influences estuaries and the Long Island Sound.
The data collection began in Mystic and Norwalk in May and June of last year using existing
infrastructure to place the testing equipment, she said.
Izbicki said buoys were required for Westport and Fairfield because it allows the USGS to place equipment at the mouths of the Saugatuck and Mill rivers to collect data.
Samples will be analyzed for nutrients, carbon, suspended solids, silica, chlorophyll and biological oxygen demand. Additional information will be collected every six minutes by the water quality instruments for water temperature, flow, clarity, salinity, and concentrations of oxygen and algae.
Izbicki said the data collected will help Connecticut with its Second Generation Nitrogen Strategy.
The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection first developed the strategy in 2016. It combines existing efforts to reduce nitrogen loading into the Long Island Sound with new initiatives under one plan, according to DEEP. It has three main focus areas: wastewater treatment plants, nonpoint source and stormwater, and embayments — or recesses along the shoreline that create bays.
Local officials said the study will be an important component in making sure the water in the Long Island Sound and the mouths of the rivers feeding it are clean and safe.
“We all want clean water,” said Kim Taylor, the chair of the Fairfield Harbor Management Commission. “The USGS and DEEP have an agreement to take a look at all of the water in about seven coastal areas up and down the Connecticut coast.”
She said the data collected in Fairfield will help them find out what is in the water coming down the Mill River and can be used to develop larger policies.
Geoffrey Steadman, the planning consultant for the Norwalk Harbor Management Commission, said the basic goal of the city’s harbor management plan, and of all plans for similar communities, is to protect and improve water quality — as well as to pursue any initiatives that help achieve that. He said this study will be one such initiative.
“To protect and improve water quality, you of course need good data to identify issues and to help develop solutions,” he said, adding they’ll discuss the USGS data with the city’s harbor commission, shellfish commission and the mayor’s water quality committee.
Water collected in the Norwalk River at Ferry Point, near the Norwalk Aquarium and at the Norwalk Cove Marina, will provide data about an invaluable area that is one of the most important shellfish resources in the state, Steadman said.
“This program that USGS is pursuing helps to advance... the goals of the Norwalk Harbor management plan,” he said. “We’re all working together and continuing to learn.”
Steadman said the data collected will be used by officials for management purposes and will help local organizations be stewards of the environment.
“We all have a role in working to protect the resources of Norwalk Harbor for future generations,” he said.