A new federal plan for Long Island Sound aims to protect thousands of acres of open space and reduce beach closures caused by sewage leaks.
Tom Andersen said we didn't start seriously thinking about tidying up Long Island Sound until the mid 1980s. In particular, he said, there were three years in a row during that decade when lots of fish kept turning up dead. "It got a tremendous amount of publicity," Andersen said. "This is all down in the area of Bridgeport, west to the Bronx."
Andersen is the author of "This Fine Piece of Water," a book examining the history of Long Island Sound. He says in the 1800s and 1900s the Sound served two main purposes: oyster farming and waste dumping.
Since the wakeup calls of 1980s, however, Andersen says lots of great cleanup work has been done. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency said nitrogen levels discharged by wastewater treatment plants are down significantly, making the sound much more habitable for wildlife.
Andersen said more work is needed, however, especially when it comes to the new challenges posed by climate change. "Preservation of beaches and sandbars and salt marshes is going to be a real issue as sea levels start to rise," Andersen said.
With that in mind, the EPA has released a new plan for the Sound.
It hopes to restore 3,000 acres of coastal habitat and conserve an additional 7,000 acres. It also works to reduce beach closures due to sewage runoff by 50 percent.
The goal for meeting both targets will take some time, the hope is to have them achieved by the year 2035, through a combination of state and federal funding.
