The Watershed
Map of Niantic River Watershed
What is the Niantic River Watershed?
A watershed consists of all land that drains to a waterbody, in this case, it is the Niantic River. Local water features such as Fairy Lake, Horse Pond, Barnes Reservoir, Bogue Brook Reservoir, Lake Konomac, Darrow Pond, Latimer Brook, Oil Mill Brook, and Stony Brook, as well as the Niantic River itself, are all part of what we call the Niantic River Watershed. The watershed covers 31.3 square miles, or approximately 20,000 acres and includes areas from the four towns of East Lyme, Waterford, Salem, and Montville.
The Niantic River is an estuary. Fresh water drains from a small coastal watershed to a tidal embayment where fresh water mixes with the salt water of Long Island Sound. Many people relate to the Niantic River as a body of saltwater that provides access to the Sound and to a rich variety of marine resources. Others make connections to local freshwater streams and ponds through recreational activities such as fishing and swimming. For citizens in Waterford, including Quaker Hill, and New London, the freshwater resources in the watershed provide drinking water to 13,000 homes and businesses.
What is the Problem?
The Niantic River is not currently meeting the Department of Environmental Protection’s water quality standards. It is not supporting aquatic life known to inhabit the estuary in the past. Symptoms of this condition include, algal blooms, seasonal variations in eelgrass populations, loss of scallop populations, and changes to the fish communities.
The cause of this impairment to aquatic life is not completely understood; however, there is a building body of scientific evidence that states that the river is overloaded with nutrients, primarily nitrogen. Nitrogen enriches the brackish Niantic River water, like fertilizer on a lawn, increasing algal and plant growth. Like bacteria, nutrients flow to the river with stormwater and are considered a problem of non-point source pollution.
What is non-point source pollution?
Non-point source pollution happens when rainwater, snowmelt, or irrigation water runs over the land or into the ground and picks up pollutants then deposits them into streams, lakes, estuaries, or groundwater. It can include nutrients, bacteria, oils, sediment, salt, and heavy metals, among other things.
Whose fault is it?
All of us! We all contribute to non-point source pollution in whatever watershed we live, work, or drive in.
What Can I do to Help?
A Niantic River Watershed Protection Plan has been completed and public support is necessary to ensure that the recommendations are implemented. To find out more information about the plan and its watershed and what you can do in your own backyard, check out the following link.