Funds Aimed At Deep Brook Preservation

By Kendra Bobowick

Deep Brook is again the focus of environmental efforts in Newtown to preserve aquatic life and clean water.

The Trout Unlimited Candlewood Valley Chapter has received $1,060 through an Embrace-A-Stream grant — a flagship grant program for funding Trout Unlimited grassroots conservation efforts.

“We have a real opportunity to improve things, we can make things better,” said chapter President James Belden.

The money will fund water sampling and testing, and essentially help Mr Belden collect evidence.

“Depending on the samples, we can put our finger on the actual impact of storm run-off from roads and parking lots,” he said. “You need proof for backup.”

Revealing his concern, he said, “An area like this is fragile and important and we need to get on it now.” Specifically, the funds will concentrate on the portion of Deep Brook near the Queen Street and Wasserman Way intersection. He said, “This will focus on areas at specific locations around storm water inputs, etc. It is a growing area of concern and this grant was submitted specifically for this and will enable us to isolate and identify specific impacts on water quality.”

Mr Belden stressed, “It doesn’t take much thought to figure out — look at Queen Street and look at Deep Brook — you know it’s bad, but to get money to invest in fixing it, you need proof, and hopefully it will lead to better storm management.”

The testing has three components that will contribute to both short- and long-term assessments of storm water effects, he said. First is the macroinvertibrate testing. Macroinvertebrates are aquatic insects, worms, clams, snails, and other animals without backbones that can be seen without the aid of a microscope. Samplings of these species is already taking place with the Department of Environmental Protection’s guidance, Mr Belden explained, but can now expand.

Another test using in-stream thermographs will monitor the water temperature. A few hours of increased temperatures has an effect on aquatic life, he said.

The third testing component will be actual water sampling around storm events. “We’ll test for chemistry and levels of contamination,” Mr Belden said. He hopes to begin work in May and June.

The Candlewood chapter will likely supplement the grant funding.

The Problem

Mr Belden sees a threat to Newtown’s water supply.

“You’re asking for trouble,” he said. The trouble is flowing into upper Deep Brook and the Pootatuck River, he explained. “The waterway is Class A water — that’s drinking water,” he said. Also in jeopardy is the aquatic life.

“That’s a Class 1 wild trout management area — one of only ten in Connecticut,” he said. A Class 1 area has a self-sustaining population of wild and native trout species. Mr Belden said, “Basically, the trout population has everything it needs to flourish.”

The scenic trout habitat is also vulnerable.

“When you have a 90-degree day and a thunderstorm, the water rushes into a stream and the temperature spikes,” he said. “Drains dump directly into the stream.”

Water needs to percolate into the ground — to be cleansed, he explained. “Deep Brook is a waterway that can have low flows in summer, so flash storms can have a profound impact on life in the stream,” Mr Belden said.