As heavy rain continues to pelt Connecticut, water quality for the flooded Connecticut River is a concern for advocates and experts.
Heavy rain from Vermont has headed downstream, flooding the river and filling it with rocks and branches.
Debris from floods raging through roads, farms, and lawns are a risk, said Rhea Drozdenko, a river steward with Connecticut River Conservancy.
“Whether it's fertilizers or pesticides, or oil from cars, like all of that is now ending up on our rivers, too, because it's washed down with the rain, and the floods,” she said. “For a number of reasons, it's best to stay out of our rivers for a while until things calmed down a bit.”
Fertilizer running off from flooded farmland is also a concern for the river’s ecosystem. Drozdenko said it pushes the plants in the river to thrive, at the same time creating “dead zones” of low oxygen areas that can spread to the state’s tributaries and the Long Island Sound.
Meanwhile, sewage overflows are also causing issues in the river. Bacteria from raw sewage introduces risk not only to people, but also the river’s ecosystem.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is advising residents to exercise caution around flooded waterways. That includes swimming, fishing and boating.
Drozdenko said Hartford, and Holyoke and Springfield, Mass. all have what are called combined sewer overflows – which are pipes designed over 100 years ago that collect sewage and stormwater.
“So normally, when it's dry, everything's fine. The sewage gets to the wastewater treatment plants, no problem,” Drozdenko said. “But when heavy rainfall occurs, it overwhelms these outdated pipes, and it has nowhere for it to go except for the river.”
On Friday, the city of Holyoke announced that there were combined sewer overflow discharges from its sewage collection system to the Connecticut River that may have negative water quality impacts downstream.
The rule of thumb for sewage water safety after heavy rainfall is to wait at least 48 hours post-storm, Drozdenko said. However, with more rain in the forecast, it’s unclear when flooded waterways will be safe again for recreation.
More updates can be found on DEEP’s website.
