Date: Fri 27-Jun-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

NEMO-pollution-GIS

Full Text:

Attacking Pollution With Education And Graphical Information

(with graphics)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

About 30 town officials recently received a briefing on a pollution problem

that's so prevalent it sometimes recedes into the background - "nonpoint

source water pollution."

"Point source" water pollution problems emanate from fixed points, such as the

pollution discharges from chemical factories, metal processing plants and

fabric finishing mills.

Alternately, roads, driveways, sidewalks, roofs, parking lots and runways are

"nonpoint sources" of water pollution which carry contaminated water runoff

across the landscape, into waterways, and eventually into Long Island Sound.

If the ground is porous, contaminated water running across it will percolate

into the soil and be filtered.

But impervious surfaces such as asphalt, concrete, roofs and compacted soil

will cause the runoff to flow laterally until it reaches a waterway and is

carried downstream. That runoff often is contaminated by the various

substances it contacts during its travel across impervious surfaces, such as

spent motor oil, anti-freeze and cleaning solvents.

Representatives of the University of Connecticut's Cooperative Extension

System presented the basic concepts of Project NEMO (Nonpoint Education for

Municipal Officials) to land use officials at a session at Newtown Middle

School.

Project NEMO seeks to inform local land use officials that by making

well-reasoned developmental decisions, local natural resources can be

protected. Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping is used as an

illustrative tool.

Information on water resources, watersheds, land cover, vegetation, zoning,

open space and property lines is fused in the GIS mapping format to translate

complex relationships into colorful electronic mapping with understandable

images, according to Chester Arnold of Project NEMO. NEMO is a joint

state-federal educational project.

First Selectman Robert Cascella told town officials local development has

generated much passion and emotion among residents in recent months, prompting

many to ask whether ongoing development is good or bad for the town's future.

Laurie Giannotti, an extension system educator, said Project NEMO seeks to

explain the effects that specific land uses will have on water quality.

Although NEMO land use planning lends itself to analysis with GIS computerized

mapping, mylar maps and paper maps also can be used for such analysis, she

said.

Planning land uses in terms of their effects on watersheds creates a

conceptual framework to analyze development's impact on water quality.

Watersheds can be broken down into sub-watersheds for planning purposes, Ms

Giannotti said.

"Watershed boundaries do not obey political boundaries," Ms Giannotti said,

noting that flowing water travels from one political jurisdiction to another.

"Water quality is truly a mirror of what happens on the land," said Jim

Gibbons, an extension system educator.

Project NEMO places land into four major categories for land use planning and

analysis: forests/wetlands; open space/agricultural; residential; and

commercial/industrial.

Unlike areas which create point source pollution, such as

commercial/industrial properties, "the real hot spots of nonpoint source

pollution (are) residential areas," Mr Gibbons said.

As the intensity of land use increases, the potential for water quality

problems in an area increases, he said.

Open space areas should be viewed as natural filters which strain out harmful

substances that flow across the landscape in contaminated runoff, he said.

"Trout streams are an excellent barometer of water quality," Mr Gibbons said,

noting that trout require clean, cold, well-oxygenated water to survive.

Project NEMO seeks to educate local land use agency members about the concepts

of comprehensive land use planning, appropriate site design, limiting the

amount of impervious ground cover, and employing the best management practices

for development.

Many of the principles explained in the NEMO program are applicable to aquifer

protection, Mr Gibbons said, noting that one of the basic topics discussed is

water infiltration.

Mr Gibbons explained that Project NEMO provides various talks to local land

use planners on a variety of developmental topics, stressing that the

organization's goal is education.

"This is not an anti-development education program," he said.

Eighteen talks are available. Four more are planned. The talks include

presentations on: watershed planning and management; wetland protection, the

role of riparian buffers; stormwater management; geographic information

systems; basic training for newly elected/appointed planning, zoning and

conservation members; open space planning and preservation; greenway planning;

balancing conservation and development; farmland protection and economic

development, among others.

Noting that Newtown faces continuing rapid development, Mr Cascella encouraged

land use agency members to avail themselves of the many free educational

programs provided by Project NEMO.

"I've opened the door. That's what I feel my job is as first selectman," he

said.

The town has received MapInfo Professional software which it will be using for

its GIS mapping system, Mr Cascella said. Land use agency staff members will

be trained in its use.

More extensive information on Project NEMO is available on the World Wide Web

section of the Internet at: http://www.lib.uconn.edu/CANR/ces/demo/