Pioneer Valley
Planning Commission

Eric Carle Museum, Amherst, MA

Press Release

CONTACT: Christopher Curtis, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (413) 781-6045 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2008

Tri-state Watershed Initiative to Improve Connecticut River Kicks Off

This week, five partner organizations in three states, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire, kicked off a multi-year $1.4 million project to improve the Connecticut River by addressing bacterial pollution problems, stormwater, combined sewer overflows, riverbank erosion, agricultural runoff, and pollution from growth and development. The project is funded under a $953,000 Targeted Watershed Initiative grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, matched by $458,000 in local funding commitments. The project is led by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and includes major partner organizations, the Connecticut River Joint Commissions, Franklin Regional Council of Governments, University of Massachusetts Water Resources Research Center, and U.S. Geological Survey, as well as 18 other cooperating partners.   

The Connecticut River is New England’s longest river, running 410 miles, and with a huge watershed that encompasses 11,260 square miles, including 38 major rivers, and is home to about 2 million residents. The watershed also includes New England’s most productive farmlands, a vital waterfowl migration route along the Atlantic flyway, and habitat for anadromous shad, Atlantic salmon, and the endangered shortnose sturgeon.

Project Need
The Connecticut River still has significant water quality problems, particularly combined sewer overflows (CSOs), which prevent the river from achieving federal Class B fishable/swimmable water quality standards. Clean-up costs are very high, estimated at $325 million for CSOs in Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke alone, but the benefits of cleaner water will also be enormous. Other water quality impairments include erosion, sedimentation, mercury and PCBs which render fish consumption unsafe, agricultural runoff, urban stormwater, malfunctioning septic systems, and runoff from forestry operations.

Project Descriptions
The project will include ten distinct tasks and activities:

1. Rapid Response Water Quality Monitoring and Public Awareness

This project will monitor river bacteria levels and provide up-to-date information on water quality conditions, via a website, to recreational users of the Connecticut River.

2. Bacteria Source Tracking and Wastewater Tracers

USGS will apply newly developed methods of bacteria source identification to assess the potential presence of human sewage sources to the urbanized Massachusetts reach of the Connecticut River.

3. Connecticut Riverbank Erosion Control

Approximately 1,600 feet of eroding riverbank will be stabilized at sites in Franklin County, Massachusetts and Colebrook, New Hampshire, using innovative bioengineering techniques, with riparian buffer plantings.

4. Intergovernmental Compact for Financing Stormwater Public Outreach

Communities will collaborate through the Connecticut River Stormwater Committee to jointly finance a multimedia campaign of public outreach focusing on reducing stormwater pollutant loading.

5. Stormwater Rebates: Incentives for On-Site Stormwater Recharge

Cost-sharing stormwater rebate programs will encourage residents and businesses to disconnect residential roof leaders and sump pumps from the CSO/storm sewer system and re-route water to rain gardens, rain barrels, and other on-site recharge areas. A demonstration green roof project will be designed. LID stormwater zoning and subdivision regulations will also be developed.

6. Stormwater Utility Demonstration Project for CSO and Stormwater Control

A demonstration stormwater utility will be designed to provide an innovative new revenue stream to help cash-strapped communities pay for CSO and stormwater projects.

7. Smart Growth Tools for Public Water Supply Protection

Initiative partners will work with six communities to develop appropriate smart growth tools for water supply protection.

8. Low Impact Development Tools for Agricultural Runoff

Two demonstration projects will be undertaken at a dairy farm and UMass farm in Hadley to fence livestock out of rivers and install native plantings to restore riparian corridors.

9. Information Technology-Based Public Outreach Campaign

A project web site will host a virtual tour of the watershed, including discussion of issues facing the river and specific projects implemented under this watershed initiative. Guided tours of project sites will be developed for playback on handheld computing devices. An electronic field guide to observational water quality indicators will be created.

10. Peer and Technology Transfer Activities

To disseminate findings and products of the watershed initiative, each partner organization will use its existing network of citizen volunteers and commissioners in 241 watershed communities. In addition, this project will provide two tri-state public forums to report on the findings of the projects, a final report that will be published with the results of each of the projects, special sections at each partner’s website, and media releases to television, radio, press, and the organizational newsletters of each project partner.

Project Partners and Contact Information
Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, 26 Central Street, West Springfield, MA 01089
Contact: Christopher Curtis, Chief Planner, (413)-781-6045, chcurtis@pvpc.org

Partners: Connecticut River Joint Commissions, Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Massachusetts Water Watch Partnership, United States Geological Survey