The older gentleman by the carwash eyed me warily as I stepped out of the car on a sweltering July afternoon, tripping over soggy, bulky waders meant for autumn temperatures, disentangling myself from the wires of the flow meter and my field notebook. "Afternoon!" I said. He nodded. "I’m from Yale - we’re doing a water quality study of the Quinnipiac - mind if I park here for a few minutes while I sample?" He assented, his countenance brightening when he realized that as a local student, I posed little threat. "You wouldn’t know it," he volunteered, "but when I was a kid I used to fish this stream." I asked him how the river was back then. "There used to be plenty of trout, turtles, frogs, the water was clean, and there was none of this muddy stuff on the bottom. All I see now are suckers, though there are still a few snappers around. They stock the river, but it’s just not the same as I remember." Typical of many rivers in the industrialized watersheds of New England, the Quinnipiac River has seen more than its share of abuse. Flowing 38 miles from its headwaters in Farmington to New Haven Harbor and Long Island Sound, the Quinnipiac River is one of the most polluted watercourses in Connecticut. Its watershed drains about 328,000 acres consisting of urban and suburban residential and industrial areas. Municipal and industrial wastewaters discharged to the river are the primary point sources of pollution to the Quinnipiac’s waters. Nonpoint sources of pollution in the watershed include construction, storm sewers, agriculture, surface runoff from both urban and suburban areas (e.g. fertilized lawns, roads, etc.), which contribute sediments, nutrients, pathogens, and toxins to the river.

The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies’ Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, under the direction of Dr. Gaboury Benoit, with Dr. Shimon Cohen Anisfeld as the project coordinator, is conducting the water chemistry research branch of a cooperative project. This project is part of a five-year, multi-agency effort to address water quality and land-use issues in the watershed, culminating in the development and implementation of a comprehensive watershed management plan. The Environmental Chemistry Laboratory at FES is characterizing the nature, extent, and severity of major nonpoint source pollution affecting the surface waters of the watershed.

The Chemistry Lab has been conducting several types of sampling since spring 1996 in order to:

• determine the nonpoint source pollutant contribution from each part of the watershed;
• compare this to the point source loading to determine relative contribution of nonpoint sources;
• correlate nonpoint source contribution to land use;
• measure the annual nitrogen loading from the Quinnipiac watershed;
• assess the impact of stormflow on pollutant loading to the river.

The entire river and its major tributaries are sampled monthly to determine the relative contribution of each subwatershed and reach of the river. Water discharge is measured at each sampling point so that pollution concentrations can be converted into pollutant loadings. Detailed sampling in the subwatersheds and a substantail Geographic Information Systems database are helping to determine which land uses may be most problematic. Another important program is sampling over the course of a storm to provide information on stormflow. Stormflow is associated with highly elevated flows and flooding on the Quinnipiac. By storm sampling we are able to determine the surface overland and subsurface flows of pollutant loading during storms.

An automated sampling station has been established near a United States Geological Survey gauging station just above the tidal portion of the river. Hourly samples are combined, based on discharge, into daily composite samples. Seasonal as well as annual trends in pollutant loading can be determined, as well as a highly precise estimate of annual nutrient loading from the entire watershed. This estimate is then compared to the monthly synoptic grab samples. Storm samples are analyzed separately, so that stormflow contribution can be analyzed for every storm over the course of the year. The autosampler provides a continuous record of cumulative pollutant loading for the entire system since early last spring when it was first deployed.

Samples are analyzed at the Environmental Chemistry lab for nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, and dissolved organic carbon, as well as fecal coliform (an indicator of contamination by untreated human or animal waste), and general water quality indicators such as biological oxygen demand, acid-neutralizing capacity, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, suspended particulate matter, and conductivity. Such a ‘chemical profile’ of the river and its tributaries will enable us to identify problem areas of the watershed, and eventually lead to more in-depth studies of these sites.

Despite its current state, the Quinnipiac is an important resource for the communities through which it flows. Much of the river corridor is still naturally vegetated, even along industrialized strips, and the river and its associated estuarine areas provide valuable habitat for wildlife, including some Connecticut state endangered and threatened species. It is a valuable recreational resource. An annual canoe race is sponsored by the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association. Anglers and birdwatchers abound in the warmer seasons.

Development poses a threat to these remaining uses of the river. Traveling the watershed dressed as a science nerd was a great way to disarm onlookers and invite the curiosity of the people living near and using the river. Everyone I encountered expressed concern for the river’s condition, even if they were unaware of the causes or its potential to be restored to a healthier state. Educating residents about how they can help make the Quinnipiac a more desirable place to fish, swim, hike, canoe, bring families, or just admire from their front yard is an important part of the nonpoint source pollution project.

A primary aim of the overall project is to involve and empower the watershed communities in the management process. This is essential to successfully implementing the nonpoint source pollution abatement strategies identified by this study. The desire to improve their environment is there. It’s just up to us to show people living in the watershed how they can participate in this river’s renewal.