08-09-2009, 08:12 PM
[size 2]Workhorse’ river needs help
Saturday, August 8, 2009 9:30 PM EDT
By NATHAN WHELAN-MORIN
Correspondent
A lot of mud, an old beaver dam and some fallen wood obscure this trickle of a stream. When Bruce Witik bought the property 20 years ago, there was even less to see.
“It was just kind of a wet area that flowed down there,” he said, pointing from the clear pond he made 14 years ago, over some springs and then back to the mire, which is fed by the pond but mostly by rain.
As the trickle winds through Witik’s land, fed by a number of tributaries, it grows into a small stream we all know but maybe haven’t learned to love — the Pequabuck River.
“It’s out of sight, out of mind,” said Mary Moulton, president of the Pequabuck River Watershed Association, which works to raise awareness of the river.
The Pequabuck rises out of Witik’s heavily wooded property in Harwinton. A Terryville reservoir and Lake Winfield feed it as it flows, or rather crawls, through the land.
Native Americans settled around the Pequabuck dating back 10,000 years based on archaeological finds of arrowheads and other artifacts. The name Pequabuck may indicate that the stream flowed out of a clear pond; it means “stony river” or “noisy river.”
The book “Bristol, Connecticut: In the Olden Time New Cambridge, Which Includes Forestville,” a collection of historical articles, suggests the former of these interpretations but maintains that “the name is not satisfactorily accounted for.”
Colonial settlers made their homes near the river since it provided water, diluted wastes, and generated power for mechanical processes. Colonists built so many sawmills and gristmills that by 1750 it was being referred to as the Mill River. In the early 1800s industries that used waterpower multiplied.
Where it cuts under Route 6, you find the river’s most historic site, the Eli Terry Jr. waterwheel, built about 1880.
“The waterwheel was used to power Eagle Lock,” the manufacturing firm founded by Terry, said Matt Malley, a retired Plymouth historian.
Clock making, spring making, and foundries continued to gather around the river and its watershed heavily polluting the stream. By the 1900s, the Pequabuck River was one of Connecticut’s most polluted rivers.
“It has always been used by people. It has always been abused by people,” Moulton said, who calls the Pequabuck “a hardworking river.”
The Poland River, a tributary, runs down from the north and flows into the Pequabuck as it zigzags out of Plymouth and into Bristol, to Rockwell Park and the West End. The river then descends underground through Bristol’s downtown and resurfaces along Memorial Boulevard, where a number of fowl like to dip into the pond.
The great flood of 1955 devastated Bristol. Trash floated in the murky river and fish could not survive its poisonous flow. The city buried the noxious-smelling river in a conduit under downtown. Within a 100-foot buffer of the river in downtown Bristol, 80 percent of the land is impervious, which means it can’t soak up any water or runoff. Roads, sidewalks and parking lots can’t filter rain water like soil can, so pollutants flow directly into the river. Animal waste, fertilizer, pesticides, and failing septic tanks further contaminate the Pequabuck.
It is this kind of pollution, according to the 2005 Watershed Management Plan, that is hurting the Pequabuck the most.
The state has found and begun to deal with much of the specific sources of pollution, like discharges from industries, according to the plan prepared by the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency, the Pequabuck River Watershed Association, and the Farmington River Watershed Association, but points the finger at “non-point source pollution,” for keeping the river classified as impaired by the DEP. Bristol, Burlington, Farmington, Plainville, and Plymouth, all approved the management plan.
Some areas are considered degraded because of the amount of impervious surfaces, which lead to non-point source pollution. Effective city planning can reduce such pollution, says the 2004 State of the Watershed Report, prepared by the same groups.
The Pequabuck dances around Route 72 until Copper Mine Brook joins it in Forestville, where duck races are held on the river annually.
The river may be small, but it could provide a number of possibilities that, while not necessarily as creative as a duck race, could be just as profitable. The Pequabuck’s potential ability to generate revenue remains “unrealized,” according to the management report.
“I suspect it means recreational use can help with stimulating the economy,” said Malik, a watershed manager at the state Department of Environmental Protection. Peripheral businesses like fishing shops spring up around these recreational activities, he said.
Moulton sees the benefits of developing the river as a resource.
“It’s a really nice area to fish,” she said, pointing to the catch-and-release zone full of naturalized brown trout from Canal Street in Bristol to Route 177 in Plainville.
“If the city and the businesses … looked on the river as waterfront property,” they could make more money, she said, but instead, we put dumpsters along the river.
Moulton suggested the river could raise property values by adding a diner or using the Pequabuck as a tourist attraction – if it were cleaner.
“People are always attracted to water, especially water that is moving,” she said.
The management plan also points out that the river flows through downtown Bristol and portions of Plymouth and Plainville, all of which are seeking to revitalize their centers of commerce.
Chet Reed, vice president of the PRWA, lamented that politicians don’t have a vision for the river.
When it comes to change, “it’s like pulling teeth,” Reed said. “I don’t know what the problem is.”
Part of the problem is that the watershed lies within two counties and seven towns, which are under the jurisdiction of three different regional planning agencies, the watershed report notes.
“We laid out who could do what jobs” in the management plan, said Ken Shooshan-Stoller, deputy manager of the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency, which presides over Berlin, Bristol, Burlington, New Britain, Plainville, Plymouth, and Southington.
The most responsibility lies with the towns to get the work done, Shooshan-Stoller said.
The Pequabuck cuts through North Washington Street in Plainville. The river is a broad brushstroke and its stony bed shows through the clear water. Then the stream curves north, passing near the Tomasso State Park and Swamp Shade Sanctuary, which features a number of trails. On these trails, some of which follow the riverbank, one perhaps could see anything from a bobcat or black bear to a mink, not to mention the number of endangered species that live on the river or its watershed like the cooper’s hawk, the bald eagle, and the great egret.
In the 1970s, clean-up efforts began. Improved treatment of industrial discharges and municipal wastewater through the Clean Water Act of 1972 reduced the amount of pollution. By the 1980s, the river began to see improvement that continues today. Water pollution control facilities in Bristol, Plymouth, and Plainville treat discharge.
The DEP and the watershed association have stocked the river with salmon and trout. Levels of fecal coliform have dropped drastically. In Bristol, storm water management, sediment control, and annual clean ups held by the city in conjunction with the watershed association have improved water quality.
Swimming is not recommended, Malik said, but non-contact recreation, which he defined as when there is “no risk of swallowing a mouthful,” is usually safe. It is almost always permissible to fish. However at every sampling site, there has been at least one test in the past three years where E. coli levels exceeded the limit for non-contact recreation. Malik advised the public to be careful a day or two after a rainstorm, since runoff causes higher levels of pollution.
Most people probably don’t realize that how we treat the Pequabuck affects other rivers, according to Moulton.
“The Pequabuck is probably a good source of pollution in the lower Farmington,” she said. Malik said that the Farmington River fares better because it has fewer impervious surfaces than the Pequabuck.
From a bike trail off Meadow Road in Farmington, it’s possible to see the Pequabuck merge with the Farmington. At the end of its 16-mile stretch, the stream is still so shallow at that small dogs can comfortably wade through. There, the Pequabuck stretches about 15 feet from bank to bank. Dragonflies dip up and down on the clear water. Trees flank the gently flowing stream as this hardworking river joins its larger cousin on its journey down the Connecticut River to the Long Island Sound.[/size]
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Saturday, August 8, 2009 9:30 PM EDT
By NATHAN WHELAN-MORIN
Correspondent
A lot of mud, an old beaver dam and some fallen wood obscure this trickle of a stream. When Bruce Witik bought the property 20 years ago, there was even less to see.
“It was just kind of a wet area that flowed down there,” he said, pointing from the clear pond he made 14 years ago, over some springs and then back to the mire, which is fed by the pond but mostly by rain.
As the trickle winds through Witik’s land, fed by a number of tributaries, it grows into a small stream we all know but maybe haven’t learned to love — the Pequabuck River.
“It’s out of sight, out of mind,” said Mary Moulton, president of the Pequabuck River Watershed Association, which works to raise awareness of the river.
The Pequabuck rises out of Witik’s heavily wooded property in Harwinton. A Terryville reservoir and Lake Winfield feed it as it flows, or rather crawls, through the land.
Native Americans settled around the Pequabuck dating back 10,000 years based on archaeological finds of arrowheads and other artifacts. The name Pequabuck may indicate that the stream flowed out of a clear pond; it means “stony river” or “noisy river.”
The book “Bristol, Connecticut: In the Olden Time New Cambridge, Which Includes Forestville,” a collection of historical articles, suggests the former of these interpretations but maintains that “the name is not satisfactorily accounted for.”
Colonial settlers made their homes near the river since it provided water, diluted wastes, and generated power for mechanical processes. Colonists built so many sawmills and gristmills that by 1750 it was being referred to as the Mill River. In the early 1800s industries that used waterpower multiplied.
Where it cuts under Route 6, you find the river’s most historic site, the Eli Terry Jr. waterwheel, built about 1880.
“The waterwheel was used to power Eagle Lock,” the manufacturing firm founded by Terry, said Matt Malley, a retired Plymouth historian.
Clock making, spring making, and foundries continued to gather around the river and its watershed heavily polluting the stream. By the 1900s, the Pequabuck River was one of Connecticut’s most polluted rivers.
“It has always been used by people. It has always been abused by people,” Moulton said, who calls the Pequabuck “a hardworking river.”
The Poland River, a tributary, runs down from the north and flows into the Pequabuck as it zigzags out of Plymouth and into Bristol, to Rockwell Park and the West End. The river then descends underground through Bristol’s downtown and resurfaces along Memorial Boulevard, where a number of fowl like to dip into the pond.
The great flood of 1955 devastated Bristol. Trash floated in the murky river and fish could not survive its poisonous flow. The city buried the noxious-smelling river in a conduit under downtown. Within a 100-foot buffer of the river in downtown Bristol, 80 percent of the land is impervious, which means it can’t soak up any water or runoff. Roads, sidewalks and parking lots can’t filter rain water like soil can, so pollutants flow directly into the river. Animal waste, fertilizer, pesticides, and failing septic tanks further contaminate the Pequabuck.
It is this kind of pollution, according to the 2005 Watershed Management Plan, that is hurting the Pequabuck the most.
The state has found and begun to deal with much of the specific sources of pollution, like discharges from industries, according to the plan prepared by the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency, the Pequabuck River Watershed Association, and the Farmington River Watershed Association, but points the finger at “non-point source pollution,” for keeping the river classified as impaired by the DEP. Bristol, Burlington, Farmington, Plainville, and Plymouth, all approved the management plan.
Some areas are considered degraded because of the amount of impervious surfaces, which lead to non-point source pollution. Effective city planning can reduce such pollution, says the 2004 State of the Watershed Report, prepared by the same groups.
The Pequabuck dances around Route 72 until Copper Mine Brook joins it in Forestville, where duck races are held on the river annually.
The river may be small, but it could provide a number of possibilities that, while not necessarily as creative as a duck race, could be just as profitable. The Pequabuck’s potential ability to generate revenue remains “unrealized,” according to the management report.
“I suspect it means recreational use can help with stimulating the economy,” said Malik, a watershed manager at the state Department of Environmental Protection. Peripheral businesses like fishing shops spring up around these recreational activities, he said.
Moulton sees the benefits of developing the river as a resource.
“It’s a really nice area to fish,” she said, pointing to the catch-and-release zone full of naturalized brown trout from Canal Street in Bristol to Route 177 in Plainville.
“If the city and the businesses … looked on the river as waterfront property,” they could make more money, she said, but instead, we put dumpsters along the river.
Moulton suggested the river could raise property values by adding a diner or using the Pequabuck as a tourist attraction – if it were cleaner.
“People are always attracted to water, especially water that is moving,” she said.
The management plan also points out that the river flows through downtown Bristol and portions of Plymouth and Plainville, all of which are seeking to revitalize their centers of commerce.
Chet Reed, vice president of the PRWA, lamented that politicians don’t have a vision for the river.
When it comes to change, “it’s like pulling teeth,” Reed said. “I don’t know what the problem is.”
Part of the problem is that the watershed lies within two counties and seven towns, which are under the jurisdiction of three different regional planning agencies, the watershed report notes.
“We laid out who could do what jobs” in the management plan, said Ken Shooshan-Stoller, deputy manager of the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency, which presides over Berlin, Bristol, Burlington, New Britain, Plainville, Plymouth, and Southington.
The most responsibility lies with the towns to get the work done, Shooshan-Stoller said.
The Pequabuck cuts through North Washington Street in Plainville. The river is a broad brushstroke and its stony bed shows through the clear water. Then the stream curves north, passing near the Tomasso State Park and Swamp Shade Sanctuary, which features a number of trails. On these trails, some of which follow the riverbank, one perhaps could see anything from a bobcat or black bear to a mink, not to mention the number of endangered species that live on the river or its watershed like the cooper’s hawk, the bald eagle, and the great egret.
In the 1970s, clean-up efforts began. Improved treatment of industrial discharges and municipal wastewater through the Clean Water Act of 1972 reduced the amount of pollution. By the 1980s, the river began to see improvement that continues today. Water pollution control facilities in Bristol, Plymouth, and Plainville treat discharge.
The DEP and the watershed association have stocked the river with salmon and trout. Levels of fecal coliform have dropped drastically. In Bristol, storm water management, sediment control, and annual clean ups held by the city in conjunction with the watershed association have improved water quality.
Swimming is not recommended, Malik said, but non-contact recreation, which he defined as when there is “no risk of swallowing a mouthful,” is usually safe. It is almost always permissible to fish. However at every sampling site, there has been at least one test in the past three years where E. coli levels exceeded the limit for non-contact recreation. Malik advised the public to be careful a day or two after a rainstorm, since runoff causes higher levels of pollution.
Most people probably don’t realize that how we treat the Pequabuck affects other rivers, according to Moulton.
“The Pequabuck is probably a good source of pollution in the lower Farmington,” she said. Malik said that the Farmington River fares better because it has fewer impervious surfaces than the Pequabuck.
From a bike trail off Meadow Road in Farmington, it’s possible to see the Pequabuck merge with the Farmington. At the end of its 16-mile stretch, the stream is still so shallow at that small dogs can comfortably wade through. There, the Pequabuck stretches about 15 feet from bank to bank. Dragonflies dip up and down on the clear water. Trees flank the gently flowing stream as this hardworking river joins its larger cousin on its journey down the Connecticut River to the Long Island Sound.[/size]
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