The CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) Watershed Section awarded a $545,000 grant for the Town of Stonington to work in partnership with the Eastern Connecticut Conservation District to improve water quality.
The project, Wequetequock Cove Stormwater BMPs and Community Outreach, will implement recommendations from Anguilla Brook/Inner Wequetequock Cove Watershed-Based Plan (2021).
The project will be conducted within the Wequetequock Cove watershed at Stonington High School, Spellman Drive, Stonington’s Human Services parking lot and neighborhoods in the watershed. The main goal is to improve stormwater runoff management.
The funding comes from the Clean Water Act Section 319 Nonpoint Source (NPS) Grant Program. Section 319 of the Federal Clean Water Act is a grant program to address NPS water pollution. DEEP receives these funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that can be passed onto municipalities, communities, local conservation groups, and many other organizations for NPS implementation projects, plans, and statewide NPS management efforts.
EPA defines NPS pollution as pollution that is “caused by diffuse sources that are not regulated as point sources and are normally associated with land use and runoff from the land.” Common NPS pollutants include bacteria, nutrients, sediment, salt, petroleum products, heavy metals, pesticides, and debris. These pollutants are typically carried by stormwater runoff into streams, lakes, and estuaries from diffuse land use and other activities that are not regulated as point source discharges.
The ECCD and the town plan to install four bioretention systems, nine tree filters and ten residential rain gardens, as well as conduct an outreach & education campaign in all neighborhoods identified in the watershed plan.
Educational information and community outreach will include information about the importance of proper disposal of pet waste, septic care and fertilizer reduction.
ECCD staff will manage the project. Dan Mullins, ECCD executive director, director, will be the project principal, managing the project and coordinating activities with Stonington town staff including the town engineering, engineering intern and members of the Department of Public Works.
Stonington DPW has extensive experience installing and repairing infrastructure for road systems and drainage, and as part of this project DPW will be directly installing the majority of the project’s infrastructure.
Wequetequock Clean Water Coalition (WCWC) will assist with outreach and education by enlisting volunteers to distribute educational brochures throughout neighborhoods identified in Anguilla Brook/Inner Wequetequock Cove Watershed-Based Plan (2021), as well as identifying homeowners willing to install the rain gardens. WCWC will also solicit volunteers to assist with planting the rain gardens. Volunteers will plant and mulch the rain gardens.
"ECCD is excited to partner with the Town of Stonington and Wequetequock Clean Water Coalition on this project,” said Dan Mullins, executive director, Eastern Connecticut Conservation District, in a press release. “Mitigating nonpoint source pollution that is discharging into Wequetequock Cove is critical to improving the cove's water quality and restoring its ecological functions and shellfish habitat."
“We are so grateful to our Stonington team and the excellent partners that have made this project possible,” said Danielle Chesebrough, Stonington first selectman, in a press release. “This project is another example of what can be possible when we are able to bring together people and with a range of skills. Thanks to ECCD’s leadership in addressing stormwater’s impacts on our local waterways, WCWC’s extensive community engagement and Stonington’s DPW and Engineering team’s on the ground efforts we should see important improvements over the coming years.”
