To the Editor:

Last Wednesday night, there was a public forum to present the Pootatuck River Watershed Management Plan (PRWMP). A lot of important information was shared, including:

*Both the Pootatuck River and Deep Brook have unsafe E.coli levels and are considered “impaired” by the state. They have been like this for a long time, and the source(s) of the bacteria are unknown, and there isn’t much of a plan to figure it out.

*The biggest source of pollution for Lake Zoar is in Newtown, from the Pootatuck River.

*The Pootatuck Aquifer is one of only two “Sole Source Aquifers” in the state, and provides drinking water to 50 percent of Newtown.

Please familiarize yourselves with the PRWMP and advocate for its adoption by the Town. See the plan here: hvatoday.org/explore-the-region/pootatuck-river-watershed-management-plan/

State-required watershed management planning is a process that results in a plan or a blueprint of how to best protect and improve the water quality and other natural resources in a watershed. The PRWMP was drafted by a coalition called Pootatuck River Partners over the past two years with funding from the State-administered EPA 319 Grant program and the Long Island Future’s Fund. The Housatonic Valley Association provided project management and many of our local conservation organizations participated.

This plan is an impressive and critically important body of collaborative work. This plan should be a mandatory read for all elected and appointed officials. Unfortunately, aside from one Land Use employee, the only town representatives who attended the presentation were one LC member and one member of the conservation commission. When asked, the Land Use employee was unable to articulate any concrete next steps that would lead to getting this plan adopted by the town. If you care about safe, clean drinking water and our natural resources, please read the plan and advocate for its swift adoption to the First Selectman and the Legislative Council.

Thank you.

Dave Ackert

Sandy Hook