“Riffle-dwelling benthic macroinvertebrate sampling project” is a mouthful.

Put more simply, a private coldwater fisheries conservation group recently sponsored a field project during which volunteers armed with collection gear retrieved various examples of such tiny animals from local streams and rivers in seeking to gauge those waterbodies’ cleanliness, and thus suitability as trout habitat.

The type and number of macroinvertebrates present serves as a general indicator of the waterbodies’ ecological health.

Macroinvertebrates include insects, crustaceans, mollusks, arachnids, and annelids. Aquatic macroinvertebrates live on, under, and around rocks and sediment on the bottom of streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes.

Mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies are most preferred – because they live only in the cleanest of waters.

Net-spinners, water pennies, dobsonflies, and fishflies are less desirable, as they are able to live in water less clean.

Amphipods, isopods, leeches, midges, blackflies, snails, and worms are yet less desirable due to their tolerance of water pollution.

Also, lurking in the waters may be crayfish, riffle beetles, snipeflies, and planaria, among many others.

The Candlewood Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited conducted the macroinvertebrate sampling project at several local watercourses, including multiple sites at the Pootatuck River, Deep Brook, Pond Brook, and the Halfway River, explained resident Joe Hovious of Trout Unlimited.

The local macroinvertebrate sampling project, which the group conducts annually, started in 2006 after two serious fuel spills had occurred at Fairfield Hills, threatening the ecological health of Deep Brook there, which is a natural trout hatchery.

Also, Trout Unlimited has worked during the past decade to physically improve the terrain along Deep Brook to bolster its functionality as a trout hatchery.

Besides Trout Unlimited’s ongoing  macroinvertebrate sampling project, the Pootatuck Watershed Association, which is another private environmental group, has overseen an ongoing water quality sampling project in town, which analyzes the chemistry of water samples periodically taken from local streams and rivers.

While Trout Unlimited’s work approaches water quality from a biological perspective, the watershed association’s work views it from a chemical perspective, Mr Hovious said.

“We’re really interested in water quality,” Mr Hovious said of Trout Unlimited’s desire for suitable local trout habitat.

The riffle-dwelling benthic macroinvertebrate sampling project also is part of a statewide effort by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to obtain water quality data. DEEP will analyze the samples and data collected in Newtown and across the state in compiling scientific information about water quality.