Pootatuck Watershed Association Begins Townwide Water Quality Testing Program

By Andrew Gorosko

The Pootatuck Watershed Association (PWA) has started a townwide water quality monitoring program designed to gauge the environmental health of local bodies of water. The project has the goal of creating a land-use planning tool aimed at ensuring that future land development is done in an environmentally sound manner.

On June 1, Town Land Use Enforcement Officer George Benson and Town Conservation Official Rob Sibley traveled to 16 locations at streams and rivers throughout town taking water samples that will be analyzed in the first round of water quality testing in the program. The town is a member of the PWA.

The PWA is a new private, nonprofit environmental group organized to protect the Pootatuck River Watershed. Through its protection efforts, the group seeks to ensure that the town has a clean, abundant water supply for the future.

In conjunction with the water-testing program, the Newtown Fish & Game Club will be taking water samples at Taunton Pond.

Broadly, the PWA exploratory project seeks to measure water purity at the sites tested. The water quality analyses are being performed by Aqua Environmental Lab of Church Hill Road.

It is the first time that such a townwide quality testing program has been conducted, Mr Benson said. Bodies of water tested include the Pootatuck River, Deep Brook, Halfway River, and Pond Brook.

The testing includes analyses of the water samples’ biological aspects, such as the presence of coliform and e-coli bacteria; its mineral content; the presence of nutrients such as ammonia, phosphorus, and both nitrates and nitrites; as well as the alkalinity/acidity of the water. The electrical conductivity of the water also is tested.

To get a broader picture of a stream’s long-term water quality, the study also checks for the presence of larval-stage flying aquatic insects, known as macroinvertebrates.

During the June 1 water sampling tour, mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies, among other organisms were found, Mr Benson said. “We found stoneflies throughout town, and that is a good thing,” he said.

The specific insects that were found indicated “moderately good” local long-term quality, he said.

Of the water samples taken on June 1, Mr Benson said, “I’m pretty happy with what we saw.” A project goal will be maintaining the existing quality of local bodies of water, he said. If future land development proceeds properly, existing water quality can be maintained, he said.

The PWA project does not sample the water quality within various local ponds, but it does sample water quality at the streams leaving those ponds. The outflowing streams emanate from Hattertown Pond, Curtis Pond, and Taunton Pond. Mr Benson said he hopes that water sampling is done semiannually in an open-ended testing program.

Water flowing within the Halfway River on the Newtown-Monroe border is considered “pristine” and will be used as a standard of reference in the water testing program.

Of the project, Mr Benson said, “It gives us an idea of where we have [environmental] problems or where we don’t.” Mr Benson is an aquatic biologist by training.