‘How Impervious Surfaces Impact Water Quality’

The Town of Newtown’s Conservation and Inland Wetlands Commissions will present a lecture titled, “Raging Runoff: How Impervious Surfaces Impact Water Quality” Saturday, October 3, at Cyrenius H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street. The program will run from 2 to 4 pm, with presentations to run approximately 20–30 minutes each and time for question and answer sessions.

The workshop is free and open to the public.

Featured speakers are Alicia Messier, MS, of the Town of Dennis’s GIS Department, formerly GIS specialist for the Town of Newtown; and Christopher Bellucci, Environmental Analyst 3, of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Bureau of Water Protection and Lane Reuse.

“The impacts of development and the inevitable impervious surfaces they necessitate have an environmental impact. Understanding and modifying those impacts are essential to the health of our community,” said Rob Sibley, deputy director of planning and conservation.

Ms Messier will detail the effects of impervious surfaces on water quality, including Newtown’s. Mr Bellucci will explain how Connecticut DEP developed impervious cover models that show a relationship between the percent of impervious cover in a watershed and the biology in Connecticut’s streams.

Studies found that when a watershed’s impervious cover exceeds about 12 percent, streams consistently have poor stream biology and fail DEP’s aquatic life standards.

“These lectures are very relevant to the Town of Newtown,” said conservation official Ann Astarita. “They will present scientifically proven links between increased impervious cover and decreased water quality.”

Coffee will be served. Registration is requested; contact the Inland Wetlands Agency at 270-4350 or Ann.Astarita@newtown-ct.gov.