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CT DEP Proposes New Regulations Critical to Stream
Health
1. Proposed amendments to CT's Water Quality Standards
regulations: NRWA submitted comments to CT DEP in July
2009 in response to their Notice of Intent to revise
CT’s Water Quality Standards for our waterways.
CT DEP has since proposed amendments to their Standards
with the intent to improve and protect the water resources
of the State. Changes and amendments proposed for revision
include, but are not limited to:
- numeric criteria for toxic pollutants;
- standards for temperature;
- standards for dissolved oxygen in marine waters;
- standards for biological condition;
- allowable discharges to Class A water bodies;
- the antidegradation implementation policy;
- surface water quality classification maps; and
- other minor changes or clarifications.
Proposed water quality classification maps by city/town
can be viewed at the DEP
web site.
During the public comment period, a public information
session will be held on 1/26 (snow date 1/28) and a
public hearing will be held on 2/3 (snow date 2/4).
The deadline to submit comments is 2/15/10.
For further details, visit the DEP
web site.
2. Proposed Streamflow Protection Regulations – The
vast majority of the state’s waterways are currently
not protected against water withdrawals and are vulnerable
to over-withdrawals from which the streams can become
completely dry. The proposed regulations would require
users taking water from a river system to maintain natural
river flows downstream that are necessary for the survival
of fish and for the natural cleansing that a stream
needs to remain healthy. Further summary of the regulations,
an informative power point presentation from DEP, and
details on what you can do to ensure these regulations
are passed into law are available on the ‘Stream Flow
Regulations’ section of Trout Unlimited’s website at
http://www.mianustu.org/streamflowregulations.html
The public hearing is 1/21/10, and written testimony
is due 2/4/10.
Monitoring Water Quality in the Norwalk River
The Norwalk River Watershed Association provides funding
to the Harbor Watch/River Watch Program for the on-going
monitoring of water quality throughout the Norwalk River.
Harbor Watch/River Watch is based out of Earthplace
in Westport, CT and provides NRWA with periodic water
quality reports (available for download below), as well
as presents a summary of the year's findings at our
annual meeting each Spring.
Download Water Quality Reports
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