By: Meg Learson Grosso , Westport Minuteman, September 15, 2007

Water quality has been in the local news lately. Coincidentally, the Westport League of Women Voters (LWV) decided to do a project on just that.

The first thing that came to mind was Long Island Sound. But that was huge. So, where to start? They asked Richard Harris, Director of Harbor Watch/River Watch (HW/RW), which is a part of Earthplace, to suggest a water quality project.

 Harris said that the LWV promoting an ordinance requiring residents to pump out their septic tanks wouldn't be a bad place to start. And then he said that if they wanted to learn about clean water, they could help HarborWatch/River Watch people as they monitored the water quality of the Aspetuck River.

So, every other week during the warmer months, two out of four members of the LWV's environment committee, Pippa Bell Ader, one of the co-presidents of the LWV, Jane Eyes, Katy Goldschmidt, or Alison Rivard take turns accompanying Harris to test the level of bacteria, oxygen, conductivity, and water temperature of the Aspetuck River. That river begins at the Aspetuck Resevoir and joins the Saugatuck River near the Weston Road in Westport.

There are a few swimming holes along the way and swimmers might want to know what they're, well, getting into.

One of the bigger swimming holes is at Toth Park in Easton. It has been closed because of elevated bacteria levels for a few years. For that reason, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) asked Harris to monitor spots on the Aspetuck River, beginning in 2003.

Harris let a Minuteman reporter accompany himself and League volunteers recently.

He explained that there were three reasons why the water in Toth Park was as dirty as it is. One was the ducks and geese that were mysteriously and largely absent that particular day. Had they fouled their own swimming hole so much that even they couldn't stand it? They weren't there to tell us.

Another reason, Harris said, was that the Aquarion Water Company didn't release enough water from the reservoir to make the water flow fast enough. A faster flow will both cool the water and throw bacteria up into the air, exposing them to sunlight. Both conditions tend to kill bacteria or shorten its life.

The water at the park was hardly moving and looked murky. Pippa Bell Ader wasn't happy that there was no sign, saying "No swimming." While a count of 126 for bacteria is the state limit for water that is swimmable, the count here had been hovering well above that (278 to 5,000) ever since June 6.

However, oxygen levels weren't bad by early September, and conductivity was okay, too.

Next stop was 100 yards up river, closer to the Aspectuck Resevoir. Oxygen levels were good here, too. Harris explained that decreased rain fall over the summer meant that there was less runoff from roads and lawns and this was healthier for the river. Usually, Fairfield County gets 45 to 50 inches of rain a year. The year before this, it got 60 inches. Normally, there's 4 to 5 inches per month in the summer, but there had been very little this year since the 6 or 7 inches of heavy rain in mid-April.

The spot down river from the Easton swimming hole told a different story.

As we proceeded to a bridge closed to traffic, we passed by the third reason that the river may have excessively high bacteria counts: a "hobby farm" with two llama, and it looked like - we drove by quickly - goats and sheep, but certainly there were other farm animals.

Harris told us that there is no law in the towns around here to limit the number of animals people can have on their property. Nonetheless, that there are things that can be done, Harris says. The manure can be covered so that when it rains, the water doesn't run off it and into the streams. It can then be trucked away to where it will be made into fertilizer.

He notes that the Fairfield County Hunt Club has done a great job of doing just that, and Sasco Creek Brook has become much cleaner as a result. He laments that the Fairfield residents who own the 275 horses north of the Hunt Club on Sasco Creek aren't as aware.

We later find that this spot just below the farm on the Aspetuck has the highest bacteria count of the day: 104.5. Nonetheless, this count is much lower than the usual. The next highest count of the day would be 66, while all the other counts were below 20. Harris later called the bacteria counts that day, "exceptionally low, as they have been in all our rivers lately." He attributes it to fewer ducks and geese in Toth Park pond and a lack of rain.

When we talk to him after the rains of the following week, he noted that the bacteria count had undoubtedly shot up.

At the fourth stop, a bridge on Old Redding Road in Weston, Jane Eyes puts a string around the mouth of an empty sterilized bottle and dips it into the river.

This water will be used to measure the bacteria later on. Harris puts his oxygen-measuring wand into the river. The results are good. Oxygen is 7.9. Anything between 6 and 10 is good. Below 5 puts stress on fish and below 3, "You will see a fish kill," says Harris.

A few days later, Harris reported that the bacteria count turned out to be a phenomenally low 2. When we asked how that could be for the next spot down-river from a farm, Harris said that the river goes through extensive wetlands between the farm and that spot. The wetlands act as a bio-filter to absorb pollutants before they get into the stream.

Our next stop is on Bridge Street in Weston, the swimming hole of a private club. The oxygen level is good again.

However, Harris pointed out that the rocks are covered with "furry stuff" or algae. "That's not good," says Harris. "It comes from too much nitrogen and phosphorus in the waterways."

"That's coming from?" we ask. "Most likely animals," he said.

At our next stop on Coleytown Road in Westport, the water looks good. Oxygen is 9.6, the best we've found today. Why do the water and rocks look so clean and clear at this spot, as well as at our next stop near the end of Lyons Plain Road?

Harris said it's probably because the Aspetuck has just passed through an area with lots of trees and the houses are set back from the stream. On the other hand, if there were sidewalks, roads and roofs, that would change the quality of the water, but not for the better, said Harris, who added, "Fewer farm animals are definitely helping out here, also."

"A lot of land owners want to take their lawn to the water's edge and that's the worst thing they can do," said Harris, pointing out that fertilizers have a very negative effect on water quality.

However, despite its clean look, that water later turns out to have a bacteria count of 66, the second highest of the day. Why? Harris guesses that there could be a septic problem somewhere upriver.

We go back to the lab at Earthplace, where there are five incubators that will later grow the bacteria count from water bottles that Jane has filled.

Pippa Bell Ader tells us that the League will probably submit a letter to the Planning & Zoning commission on Oct. 4, or sooner, which will support having a septic ordinance in the Town Plan.

She said that other Connecticut towns, such as New Fairfield, Madison, Old Saybrook, Essex, and Chester, have ordinances that require private home septic systems be pumped out, or inspected, every three to five years.

Even Harris admited, after questioning, that every year is probably not necessary and he noted that the last time he checked the cost of pumping out was about $350, a steep cost if it really isn't needed.

Harris points out that Harbor Watch/River Watch also works with high school students from Staples, Darien, New Canaan, Wilton and Trumbull. Altogether, there were nine groups of teens last year, who monitored "trouble spots," going every two weeks in all kinds of weather. They learned how the weather affected the water, how to use the equipment, and how to write a scientific paper. Those papers were presented at the Department of Environmental Protection in Hartford last May.

Harris monitors the Saugatuck River and its tributaries, the Norwalk River and tributaries, the Mill Pond and tributaries, and Sasco Creek Brook.

Harbor Watch/River Watch also monitors Norwalk Harbor for numbers of fish and has been asked by shellfishing industry representatives to monitor shellfish beds in the Sound. If asked, they will monitor other trouble spots.