Since its inception just over a year and a half ago, Clean Up Stonington Harbor (CUSH), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, has continually set its sights on the most pressing environmental issues facing our area. Whether it be improving boaters’ environmental awareness, working with town governments to achieve improved water quality, or alerting landowners to the benefits of “harbor friendly” lawns, CUSH has certainly accomplished much in its short existence.
Now a mere five months from its second birthday, CUSH and its supporters have begun their much anticipated water testing program, one of the most critical steps in accomplishing their ultimate goal of restoring Stonington Harbor to pristine condition.
Leading the effort is Claire Gavin, a retired toxicologist who began plans for the testing this past January. After organizing a Water Testing Advisory Committee and analyzing data on what was already being tested for and where, Gavin then helped determine what additionally needed to be tested and the areas of concern.
In addition, Gavin pored over town reports concerning septic fields along the coastline, catch basins, harbor-edge lawns, storm drain outfalls and drainage areas, and other possible sources of pollution to compile as accurate a picture of Stonington Harbor pollution as possible. And as CUSH founder and President Gracelyn Guyol will attest, Gavin didn’t miss a thing.
“Oh yes, she kayaked around the harbor looking at pipes spewing liquids, just to be sure she hadn’t missed something,” Guyol said.
Gavin then began to enlist volunteers including Ann, Charlie, Mallie and Jane Buffum, Don Charbonnier, Steven and Spencer Dodd, Jeffrey and Rose Dolph, Stephanie Hayes-Houlihan, Neil Mackillop, Charles Miller and Cynthia Lichtenstein, Jon Mitchell, Anthony Morales, Sue Palmer, and Tom Sanford to be trained by the University of Rhode Island Watershed Watch to gather samples and complete lab analysis. Testing began in early July and will continue through October. It will help to compile reliable scientific data to help better understand exactly what is going into our coastal waters and how it is affecting the ecosystem.
“For example, a single storm water pipe emptying into Stonington Harbor under Dodson’s Boatyard collects ‘stuff’ from multiple sources, the vast majority of them outside the boatyard itself,” Gavin explained. “Most of the water flowing through this pipe comes from the tidal wetland adjacent to the Stonington Community Center, which in turn receives storm water runoff from 55 acres including steep lawns, parking lots, the public works garage, a gas station, the Alpha Avenue overpass, and the railroad. Other areas feeding runoff into this pipe include lawns and roofs of Main Street and Trumbull-Cutler Avenue neighborhoods, with a contribution from construction at the site of the old lumberyard, itself a likely source of arsenic, copper, and creosote from storage of pressure-treated lumber. Years of impeded flow in the underground drainage system that feeds this pipe, from causes only recently understood, have led to stagnation, sedimentation, and depleted oxygen, turning its contents into a noxious stew. After a year of getting necessary permits and budgeting funds, the town finished cleaning out all the sluggish drains within this system in June.”
With testing underway and plans to continue testing over the course of multiple seasons in order to build a reliable and consistent picture of the state of our coastal waters, CUSH has begun to lay the groundwork for the realization of their ultimate plan, something Guyol and CUSH’s supporters are very excited about.
“We are very pleased to be embarking on this important activity in our second year thanks to the efforts of Claire and these volunteers,” Guyol said emphatically.
For more information or to learn how to help, visit www.cushinc.org.