State Tries to Reduce River Pollution

by Jeff Yates —  The Wilton Bulletin, July 28, 2005

Six years of water quality testing have clearly recorded that fact, and now the state Department of Environmental Protection is preparing the first steps of aggressively combating the problem.

On July 11 the state presented "A Total Daily Load Analysis for the Norwalk River Regional Basin," a plan of action that prompts the five towns in the regional basin to work hand-in-hand with state officials to push public education and the 70-page report put out by the state, commonly referred to as a TMDL report, which stands for Total Maximum Daily Load, is open to public review until Aug. 10, After that time the plan is to move forward with addressing the problems of point-source-waste treatment plants -and non-point source -stormwater runoff, failing septic tanks, wildlife waste and raising public awareness of the problem, said Mr. Malik on Tuesday.

The state has a good head start in this area, having already collected six years of water quality data from testing by Dick Harris of Earthplace in Westport, who has been working with the Norwalk River Watershed Initiative to locate and define the problem areas in the river. On top of Mr. Harris's work, the Initiative has also been providing public education of the water pollution issue and has been involved in numerous river cleanup programs as well as working with other conservation partners to stabilize riverbanks, replant buffer zones around the river, and build fish and other aquatic wildlife habitat within the river.

"In the Norwalk River what we're doing, what we have been doing, is basically above and beyond what we're requiring the municipalities to do," said Mr. Malik.

While the Initiative and its partners have been making head way, having the official report and plan from the state can only help convince more towns and residents to take pollution seriously, said Mr. Harris. "It then comes down to how much teeth this thing has," he said over the phone on Tuesday. On the good side, certainly they're aiming high."

Among the programs within the report, said Mr. Harris, are goals of reducing the total pollution entering the Norwalk River by 70%, a "huge goal," but one well worth the effort.

Mr. Harris said he's a little disturbed that the state defined the entire Norwalk River as an “all other use" river, rather than as an "unregulated swimming" river, which carries more stringent pollution restrictions. The most highly restricted rivers, those with the lowest acceptable guidelines for bacteria count, are given a ‘'regulated swimming" label, he said.

"There are still people who swim in the Norwalk River," said Mr. Harris. "There are segments of the river that need to be maintained at that middle level, "unregulated swimming," rather than blanketing the whole thing, because once you drop that standard it'd be hell to raise it."

Mr. Malik said the Norwalk River has repeatedly tested above the state's guidelines for E. coli bacteria, an indicator bacteria that the state uses to determine if there may be other, more harmful bacteria in the water. Failing the E. coli test indicates that there may be potential hazards, including human pathogens from fecal waste, to swimmers and other recreational users, not necessarily from contact with the water, but possibly from "taking a gulp of water" while swimming or if they fall in while fishing, he said.

If approved, the state maximum load report would require towns to monitor outflow pipes from storm sewers, actively look for people or businesses illegally dumping waste into the river, and generally attempt to alert citizens to the issue and get them behind plans to reduce pollution, he said.

Among the many possible ways for residents to help keep the river clean is to regularly pump out their septic systems, something that keeps them from clogging up and discharging waste into the water system, said Mr. Malik. Locating a failing septic stem is often difficult, because unless there are clear signs of water breaching the ground near e tank, or "gray water," entering the river near a septic tank; it is difficult to force a homeowner to fix the problem.

Septic tank failure, at least in one location just north of the town line in Branchville, maybe one of the largest contributors, according to Mr. Harris. During his testing throughout last year he found unusually high readings, well above the state goal of 126 E. coli cells per 100 milliliters of water. On one particular day a drainage ditch leading into Cooper Brook, which runs into the Norwalk River by Ancona's Market, had an E. coli level of 29,000 bacteria cells per 100 milliliters of water.

Mr. Harris began tracking the source of the extremely high levels of bacteria, taking samples just below the drainage ditch as well as above it to make sure the bacteria wasn't coming from further upstream. He said the E. coli seems to be coming from a residential area above and behind Ancona's, and he believes septic tank failure could be the problem. Large flocks of geese can also be a major contributor to water pollution, given that each adult goose is capable of creating one to two pounds of fecal waste each day, and Mr. Harris has also recorded large spikes in bacteria near where flocks of geese regularly congregate on open lawns and fields.

The watershed group currently has a subcommittee considering ways to address both septic tank failure and goose pollution, which could include suggestions to remove the geese by having dog owners walk their dogs at large fields to scare the geese off, or even hunting and trapping. The watershed group has also suggested urging towns to create ordinances requiring residents to pump out their septic tanks on a regular basis, perhaps every three or five years. Regularly pumping out the waste can save a resident thousands of dollars in environmental cleanup and replacement if a septic system fails, they said.

I don't think we've gone to a point where it's recommended statewide, but it's definitely cost effective for homeowners," said Mr. Malik.

A copy of the state maximum load report is available at www.dep.state.ct.us/wtr/tmdl/norwalk-tmdl.pdf.