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A River Runs
Through Us
Three decades after the Clean Water Act, health of area's rivers remains in the balance
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Business New Haven
3/22/1999
By: Elizabeth Guertin Regan
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More than 30 years have passed since Connecticut enacted the Clean Water Act, followed in 1972 by the federal Water Pollution Control Act. And while the job is far from done, many of Connecticut's waterways struggle as much from an image problem as from contamination.
The state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reports that most discharges into the state's rivers are within safe limits, and that only a dozen or so investigations out of more than 3,000 handled annually by the Water Management Bureau lead to legal action.
The New Haven area's three biggest waterways - the Quinnipiac, the Housatonic and the Connecticut - are clear indicators of the work to be done, the progress that's been made, and the potential that lies at the bottom of a clean river.
The Quinnipiac River was the subject of the first legislation in Connecticut to address water pollution. In 1886, the General Assembly prohibited the city of Meriden from discharging raw sewage into the river and forced the construction of the state's first sewage treatment plant, in 1891.
Today the 38-mile Quinnipiac River is one of four pilot watershed projects by the DEP because, despite the fact that permitted discharges are generally within limits, the Quinnipiac is still not up to the standards of state and federal regulations.
“The watershed is being overused. It's one of the worst in the state,” says Wes Winterbottom, a professor of toxicology at Gateway Community- Technical College and a member of the state's Council of Environmental Quality. In fact, Winterbottom explains, if all of the wells in the watershed were in operation at full capacity, the river would dry up.
The DEP's pilot watershed program, which began with the Quinnipiac in 1994, involves a new approach to studying not just the river, but the entire watershed area - in this case 165 square miles. Since the Clean Water Act of 1967 and the installation of secondary-level municipal waste-treatment plants, the Quinnipiac has improved tremendously.
During the 1980s about $230 million was spent to upgrade the five sewage treatment plants on the river to advanced waste treatment (AWT) plants. In 1914 there were as many as 71 untreated industrial discharges and sewage discharges from several municipalities. Now there are approximately 13 active discharges that the DEP considers “major” and more than 200 “minor” discharges, which include stormwater, cooling water and ground water reclamation.
The city of New Haven, like many cities, has a combined stormwater and sewage-treatment system. During heavy rains, untreated sewage and stormwater is discharged into New Haven Harbor. The tides affect the river for about 14 miles upstream of the harbor, which is the busiest commercial port in the state and the third most-used in New England.
To boot, the Quinnipiac suffers from a negative image, according to Tom Morrissey, director of planning and standards for the DEP's Water Management Bureau.
A study released annually by the Environmental Working Group of the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has placed the Quinnipiac River among the nation's top five rivers to receive discharged carcinogens, or cancer-causing compounds. The study goes on to say that more than 70 percent of any water pollution can be traced to one source, a claim that Winterbottom calls “a big generalization.”
Adds the DEP's Morrissey: “While there are some issues, it is nowhere near as bad as PIRG indicates. There are a number of very sensitive species of fish and thriving aquatic communities. The river is not teeming with three-eyed fish and weird organisms.”
PIRG specifically identifies chemical manufacturer Cytec Industries in Wallingford as the source of the discharges. Morrissey explains that Cytec does discharge formaldahyde, but that it is within legal limits and poses no human health risk.
Formaldahyde is extremely dangerous in the air, but is relatively harmless when diluted in water, Morrissey says. “Cytec is actually a very responsible company” that has received notices of violations for only minor infractions, Morrissey explains.
That's not to say that there aren't some health concerns about the Quinnipiac. Fish-consumption advisories have been issued for all species of fish for a section north of the Cheshire Gorge, following the discovery of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the Plantsville area. But a thorough cleanup of the site was completed more than a year ago.
The Housatonic (the name of which means “river beyond the mountains”) has also been plagued by PCBs, the result of a General Electric spill in Pittsfield, Mass. more than two decades ago. Most fishing on the Housatonic River, depending on species and location, is “catch-and-release,” which means, “Don't eat the fish.”
According to Morrissey, however, a consent agreement has just recently been reached and General Electric will finally clean up the PCBs, at least in areas of high concentration. He anticipates that this will put an end to many of the health advisories issued about eating fish.
A new controversy surrounds the Housatonic these days, pitting one outdoorsman against another. There are five hydroelectric plants on the 130-mile river and four of them are up for relicensing, an event which last occurred about 50 years ago.
“Nearly all of the river is impounded and the sections that aren't are effected by the dams,” according to Mike Piquette, a member of the Housatonic Fly Fisherman's Association and spokesperson for the Housatonic Coalition.
The flow of the river is dammed and once or twice a day released to produce power. Unfortunately, this manipulation of the flow wreaks havoc on the ecosystem, causing erosion, stirring up sediment, and even leading to fish-kills in which large populations are wiped out.
It can also create a dangerous situation for those anglers who are wading in the river, although Piquette says the more common problem is getting stuck on the wrong side of the river when it rises.
Oddly, those opposed to the natural-flow system comprise another segment of nature-lovers: canoeists and kayakers who prefer the calm of the water that pools above a dam.
The hydroelectric plants have operated this way since they were built and licensed. Since then, Morrissey says, “It's no longer the norm. We've discovered environmental controls.”
A natural-flow system would help restore the ecology of the river, but would be less efficient at producing power. Piquette hopes it will be the first step in the direction of restoring the river to a completely natural state.
He'd also like to see the Fall Village Dam reconfigured. Once called the Great Falls of the Housatonic, the dam was built on top of the ledge and the river diverted. “They dried the portion that is the most spectacular part of the river,” he says.
The Connecticut River is the state's big success story. But from the start, it had a natural advantage.
The Connecticut, called by Native Americans the “Quinatucquet” or “long tidal river,” is the largest river in the nation without a major port. The reason is that a sandbar in Long Island Sound at the mouth of the river makes navigation by deep-draught ships difficult if not impossible. As a result, commercial development along the river has been minimal, particularly in the Lower Connecticut River Valley.
So great is this 410-mile waterway that begins near the Canadian border in New Hampshire, that it has been named one of the Nature Conservancy's Last Great Places, an American Heritage River by the federal government, and a Wetlands of International Importance by the international Ramsar Convention.
“Way back in the 1960s, this was recognized as something special,” says Diane Moore, marketing associate for the Connecticut River Valley & Shoreline Visitors Bureau. She refers to the Gateway Commission, established in the '60s by the state to ensure protection of the natural assets of the area by creating a conservation zone.
Bill Foster, a broker with the Mitchel Agency, a real estate firm in Essex, believes the Connecticut River is a special place because it hasn't been over-developed. “It's a much more rural area [than the Quinnipiac River],” he explains.
His buyers, many retirees or weekenders from Fairfield County, “like the small town and they like the clean river.” Riverfront property sells for a minimum of $750,000. But with that come views of bald eagles, and blue and white herons.
The clean river and abundance of protected open space can be a double-edged sword for residents of the Connecticut River Valley. They are keenly aware of the influx of summer visitors, who often don't respect the environment as much as year-round residents.
The visitors bureau represents 20 towns in the region, ten of which are bordered by the river or the Sound, so they hope to make the most of it in the coming years.
“Eco-tourism or nature tourism is really up and coming. We feel it's one of our strong points,” Moore says. “It's going to grow, but it will be controlled and very programmed.”
She expects that the visitors bureau will eventually offer more guided tours of the river, similar to the guided eagle watches that are common in winter months. In addition, she says, the river offers greater public access than the Connecticut shoreline because of the cruises, trails and public launches.
“People will pay a lot of money and they should, because it's very special,” Moore suggests, emphasizing the rights of residents first and the need to keep the area pristine.
“It's important for our type of tourism, especially, to really pay attention to the environment. We don't have a lot of nightlife. What attracts people to the area is what we're blessed with in nature,” she says.
Moore's sentiments are echoed by DEP officials. Legislation enacted last October allowed the DEP to create a model river-protection ordinance that municipalities can use to enact their own ordinances to protect their rivers.
“As recreation and use pressures grow, people want to build hotels and condominiums overlooking the rivers,” Morrissey explains. Towns can use the model river-protection ordinance to help shore up their local land-use and conservation laws, “so that the new interest in the rivers doesn't strangle them.”
The DEP is broadening its focus beyond just the waterways to include watersheds as well. The department is working more with “stakeholders” - a DEP buzzword that encompasses just about anyone who has an interest in the watershed - to address what are called “non-point” sources of pollution. These include things like road sand, fertilizer and airborne pollutants that eventually make their way into the soil and the water.
“In terms of point source, or direct discharges, we're doing about as good as we can do,” Morrissey offers. “Now we need to work on the more ubiquitous forms of pollution.”
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