Pomperaug River Watershed Based Plan prepared by SEPTEMBER 2018 Acknowledgments We would like to thank the following individuals and organizations for their contributions of time and effort to develop this plan: Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition Land Use Committee Vince McDermott, Committee Co-Chair, PRWC Board Chairman Christopher Wood, Committee Co-Chair, PRWC Board of Directors Aaron Budris, Senior Regional Planner, Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments Norma Carey, Land Use Coordinator, Town of Bethlehem Maryellen Edwards, Town Planner, Town of Woodbury DeLoris Curtis, Town Planner, Town of Southbury Ingrid Davis, Active Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust Volunteer Amy Fischer / Petra Volinski, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Dick Leavenworth, PRWC Board Member, Woodbury Conservation Commission Member Neal Lustig, Director of Public Health, Pomperaug District Department of Health Leslie Kane, Center Director, Audubon Center at Bent of the River, Board Chair, Southbury Land Trust Gail McTaggart, PRWC Board Vice Chair Arthur Milnor, Executive Director, Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust Susan Peterson, Watershed Manager, CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Kyle Turoczi, Soil and Wetland Scientist, Earth Tones Native Plant Nursery and Landscaping Curt Jones, PRWC Board Member Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition Staff Leendert (Len) T. DeJong, Executive Director Carol Haskins, Outreach Director Anne Urkawich, Manager of Administration & Development Consultant – Fuss & O’Neill, Inc. Erik Mas, P.E.; Stefan Bengtson, MSc, MESM; William Guenther, MS; Diane Mas, Ph.D., REHS/RS Cover photos taken and/or provided by Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition. Special thanks to Dennis Yates, Emily Siwik, and Charles Batchelder for their contribution of photos. The project of updating the Pomperaug Watershed Management Plan to an EPA 9-Element Watershed Based Plan is funded in part by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection through a United States Environmental Protection Agency Clean Water Act Section 319 Nonpoint Source Grant as well as by the Connecticut Community Foundation. Pomperaug River Watershed Based Plan Table of Contents Pomperaug River Watershed Based Plan 1 Introduction ................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................1 1.2 Prior Watershed Planning ...................................................................................4 1.3 Why Update the Watershed Plan?..................................................................... 10 1.4 Plan Development Process ................................................................................ 12 1.5 Public Participation and Outreach ..................................................................... 13 2 Watershed Characteristics ...................................................... 15 2.1 Watershed Description ..................................................................................... 15 2.2 Water Quality ................................................................................................... 17 2.3 Land Use and Land Cover .................................................................................. 20 2.4 Impervious Cover .............................................................................................. 25 2.5 Open Space ...................................................................................................... 27 2.6 Geology and Soils ............................................................................................. 27 2.7 Wetlands, Riparian Areas, and Forested Areas ................................................... 31 2.8 Water Supply, Wastewater, and Stormwater ..................................................... 34 2.9 Pollutant Sources and Loads ............................................................................. 38 3 Management Recommendations .......................................... 42 3.1 Capacity Building .............................................................................................. 43 3.2 Monitoring and Assessment .............................................................................. 43 3.2.1 Water Quality Monitoring ............................................................................ 46 3.2.2 Streamwalk Assessments and Track Down Surveys ................................... 49 3.2.3 Subwatershed Action Plans ......................................................................... 49 3.3 Education and Outreach .................................................................................... 50 3.3.1 Existing Education and Outreach Programs ................................................. 50 3.3.2 Future Goals and Core Outreach Messages ................................................. 51 3.3.3 Primary Audiences, Media Formats, and Tailored Messages ...................... 51 3.3.4 Additional Education and Outreach Strategies ............................................ 59 3.4 Urban/Suburban BMPs ..................................................................................... 70 3.4.1 Green Infrastructure and Low Impact Development ................................... 70 3.4.2 Homeowner Best Management Practices ................................................... 74 3.4.3 Municipal Stormwater Management Programs .......................................... 78 3.4.4 Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems .......................................................... 81 3.4.5 Illicit Discharges ........................................................................................... 81 3.4.6 Commercial Businesses and Industrial Facilities .......................................... 85 3.4.7 Wildlife and Pet Waste ................................................................................ 87 3.4.8 Vegetated Buffers ........................................................................................ 89 3.5 Agricultural BMPs ............................................................................................. 91 3.5.1 Manure Management .................................................................................. 91 Pomperaug River Watershed Based Plan i Table of Contents Pomperaug River Watershed Based Plan 3.5.2 Vegetated Buffers and Filter Strips .............................................................. 93 3.5.3 Filter Berms .................................................................................................. 94 3.5.4 Farm Financial and Technical Assistance ..................................................... 95 4 Site-Specific BMP Concepts .................................................... 96 4.1 Residential 1 ..................................................................................................... 96 4.2 Residential 2 ................................................................................................... 101 4.3 Residential 3 ................................................................................................... 104 4.4 Golf Course, Public School, and Town Park ...................................................... 107 4.5 Mixed Commercial/Residential 1..................................................................... 110 4.6 State Facility 2 ................................................................................................ 114 4.7 Dog Park 1 ...................................................................................................... 117 4.8 Town Park 2 ................................................................................................... 119 4.9 Livestock 1 ...................................................................................................... 121 4.10 Livestock 3 ...................................................................................................... 122 4.11 Cropland/Livestock 1 ...................................................................................... 123 4.12 Cropland/Livestock 2 ...................................................................................... 124 4.13 Equestrian 1 ................................................................................................... 125 4.14 Equestrian 2 ................................................................................................... 126 4.15 Equestrian 7 ................................................................................................... 128 5 Management Measures and Pollutant Load Reductions ... 130 6 Funding Sources ..................................................................... 134 7 References .............................................................................. 135 Pomperaug River Watershed Based Plan ii Table of Contents Pomperaug River Watershed Based Plan Tables Page Table 1-1. Existing plans and studies on the Pomperaug River watershed .......................................................... 5 Table 1-2. How this watershed based plan addresses the EPA nine key elements ............................................ 11 Table 2-1. Watershed composition by municipality ........................................................................................... 15 Table 2-2. Impaired waterbody segments in the Pomperaug River watershed ................................................. 19 Table 2-3. CTDEEP Water Quality Monitoring Stations ......................................................................................