National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Closure Memo

To: Lynn Dwyer and Michael Lagua From: Shoshanna Jiang Date: 4/14/17

Project: Tracking Down Pollution Sources Impacting Water Quality in Four Rivers and Long Island (CT) Number: 1401.15.049483 Grantee: The Nature Discovery Center, Inc.

Project Description:

Earthplace – The Nature Discovery Center’s program HarborWatch will conduct water quality monitoring and sewage track down surveys in four watersheds which discharge into in Fairfield County, CT. The project will identify and support remediation of “point” sources of pollution to improve water quality conditions in rivers that follow into the Sound. Currently, the watersheds lack robust monitoring to identify “point” sources of pollution although designated as impaired waters. With establishment of this program approximately four point sources are likely to be identified and efforts engaged to resolve problems. Major project activities: 1) ten citizen-scientists will conduct surveys of five water quality parameters specifically E. coli bacteria, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and water temperature at 73 monitoring sites; 2) build cohesive and long-term datasets for the watersheds to help inform trends analysis of water quality; 3) provide data to municipalities to help them resolve pollution problems; 4) provide the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection with data to establish a water quality threshold to help with management of the Noroton River; and 5) provide information about the monitoring on a website and in concise technical reports. Partners: CT DEEP, Stamford, Westport, Norwalk, and Fairfield, Sasco Brook Pollution Abatement Committee, Watershed Initiative, Westport Shellfish Commission, and Copps Island Oysters.

Final Products: - 2 pollution sources identified Only 2 sources of pollution were identified in the monitored watersheds. The number of pollution sources identified did not meet the goal of identifying 4 sources, however additional work is underway to identify more based on the monitoring data collected during the project. - 4 water quality reports One report was prepared for each waterway that presented the data and explained the observed river conditions during the study period. The waterway reports were compiled and disseminated as the “2016 Fairfield County River Report”. This larger composite report was sent to local decision makers, watershed group,

members of other conservation organizations, volunteers, and shared on the Nature Discovery Center Facebook page. The number of study reports produced increased from 1 to 4. The Nature Discovery Center originally proposed to increase the number of reports to 5, however individual season reports were condensed into one large annual report.. - 10 volunteers participated 1 high school student, 6 college students, 3 adult citizen scientists volunteered to engage in water quality monitoring. The number of volunteers that participated in the project met the proposed goal. - 4 monitoring programs Monitoring programs were conducted in 4 tributaries to the Long Island Sound: the , the Noroton River, the Norwalk River, and Sasco Brook. Each of these waterways are listed as impaired in the Clean Water Act Section 305(b) in Connecticut. Mill River, Noroton River, and Sasco Brook were monitored biweekly from May – September (2016). Norwalk River was monitored for the entire project period of performance, May 2016 – April 2017. The number of monitoring programs established met the proposed goal of 4. - 87 sites monitored 45 instream sites and 42 stormwater sites were monitored by staff, students, and volunteers. Monitoring was conducted for indicator bacteria, dissolved oxygen, conductivity. For 6 out of 14 sites in the Mill River, 8 out of 8 sites in the Noroton River, 9 out of 10 sites in the Norwalk River, and 8 out of 13 sites in Sasco Brook failed the state criteria for acceptable levels of bacteria. Bacteria (fecal coliform and E.Coli) data were used to indicate the presence of sweater pollution. Water samples were collected and processed using the membrane filtration technique within 6 hours of collection. Results of bacteria concentration in the samples were compared to state criteria for acceptable bacteria levels in waterways in order to determine which sites were polluted. Sites with high levels of pollution were identified and discussed with municipal partners in Westport, Stamford, Fairfield. Dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and water temperature were measured in situ. The number of sites monitored exceeded the proposed goal of 73 sites.

NFWF award: $44,557.10 NFWF funds spent: $44,557.10

Match requirement: $40,212 Match spent: $40,212 (NonFed)

I recommend closing this grant.