Rivers Alliance
of Connecticut
Connecticut's United Voice for
River Conservation
Home
P.O. Box 1797
Litchfield, CT 06759
860-361-9349
rivers@
riversalliance.org
(Page updated Thu Jan 17, 2008)
Greetings!
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| Rivers Alliance of Connecticut is the only statewide nonprofit dedicated to protecting and enhancing Connecticut's rivers, streams, and watersheds. We promote and support environmentally sound state policies, assist the state's many watershed and river groups, and educate the public about the importance of water conservation and aquatic habitats. We are a membership-based nonprofit corporation founded in 1992. Our 600 members include 100 organizations. | ||||
Rivers Alliance seeks to protect Connecticut's rivers, streams, and watersheds
by:
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Building Coalitions, Encouraging Collaboration: Coordinating the efforts of the state's many river and watershed groups
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Strengthening the Grassroots: Supporting and providing resources to local river conservation organizations and activists
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Promoting Sound Public Policy: Encouraging supportive state laws, regulations, and programs regarding water allocation, watershed planning, and river protection
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Educating the Public: Providing speakers, holding conferences, and creating informational materials on the importance of river preservation and restoration
Eric Hammerling (President) is Executive Director of the Farmington River Watershed Association, FRWA.
James Creighton (Vice-President) is the treasurer of the Mattabesset River Watershed Association and is an Environmental Analyst in the Permitting and Enforcement Bureau of Water Management at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
James S. McInerney (Treasurer) is the retired Chairman of the BHC Company (formerly, Bridgeport Hydraulic Company), Board Member of the Housatonic Valley Association, and Vice-Chairman of the Water Pollution Control Authority in Norwalk.
David Bingham, M.D. (Secretary) is a member of the Eight Mile River Wild & Scenic Study Committee, and a Board Member of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. He also serves on the Salem Planning and Zoning commission, where he is working to develop the town's Conservation and Develop Plan, and the Salem Land Trust.
Megan Hearne is the River Steward for the Connecticut River Watershed Council. She has a bachelor's degree in biology from Earlham College and a master's degree in environmental policy from the University of Michigan.
Martin Mador is the Director of the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association and a director and co-founder of the Mill River Watershed Association and a member of the Hamden Natural Resource and Open Space.
Dwight H. Merriam a partner in the law firm Robinson & Cole, teaches at Vermont Law School, and is recognized nationally as an expert in zoning and other aspects of land-use law.
Marc Taylor, M.D. is the President of the Housatonic Valley Association and is on the Southbury Land Trust Boards. He is founder and co-chairman of the Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition.
Lynn Werner is the Executive Director of the Housatonic Valley Association and the co-chairman of the Rivers Advisory Committee.
Richard Windels is co-founder and president of Friends of Goodwives River in Darien. He has a background in international real estate.
Margaret Miner, Executive Director
Rose Guimaraes, Development & Programs Director
Amanda Branson, Programs Associate
Tony Mitchell, Website Manager
Rivers Alliance Policies and Projects:
2007 - 2008
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Policy Action Goals. Rivers Alliance has always vigorously promoted public policies for protection and restoration of healthy flows in all the state's waterways. As a result, in 2005, Connecticut passed vanguard legislation requiring the DEP to adopt flow standards for all rivers and streams. Recently we have extended our action goals to protection of both quantity and quality in headwaters and ground water. These under-valued and often neglected resources are essential to the water future of this state. They are threatened by overuse, by contamination, and by destruction by construction.
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Policy Leadership. As policy leaders, we serve as co-chair of the state Water Planning Council Advisory Group; member-sponsor of Clean Water Coalition (funding for sewage treatment); member of the DEP Commissioner's Policy Work Group for stream-flow regulation; member of the Pesticides Coalition; member of the New Haven Community Foundation's advisory board for the Quinnipiac River Fund; advisory director of the Mill River Watershed Association in New Haven; member of the DEP Commissioner's Stakeholder Group; director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, and so on.
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Small Grants Program. We launched the fourth round of watershed assistance small grants. This is a re-granting program funded through the Environmental Protection Agency and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). In the first three rounds we supported over 30 projects, many by new groups. This year we are supporting 11 projects, spread across the state.
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Connecticut Watershed Conservation Network (CWCN). This Rivers Alliance program runs conferences twice annually, communicates throughout the network by email year round, and maintains a website of conservation news. Our 100 plus members include people from state agencies, environmental groups, recreational groups, and just plain folks. Our Fall 2006 conference featured a special presentation by the US Geological Survey in Connecticut, and a kick-off to proposed national program of increased USGS interaction with watershed groups.
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Fighting City Hall. Rivers Alliance believes you can fight City Hall and win, or at least minimize losses. We assist individuals and organizations that are trying to protect the state's waters despite significant opposition. Our current concerns include:
v Hammonasset River & Griswold Airport. We are working with local citizen groups that are trying to clean up the Bostich waste lagoon on the river and to protect the airport property from over-development and reliance on inappropriate sewage technology.
v Preston and Poquetanuck Cove. This splendid Thames River cove in Preston is threatened by the extraordinary $1.6 billion entertainment complex proposed for the former Norwich Hospital Property by the mysterious Utopia Studios. We still see opportunities for preventing the worst of the damage, as finally something of the history of the people involved in Utopia is reaching public attention.
v Development in Drinking-Water Watersheds. In Weston and Simsbury projects have been proposed in supposedly protected source-water watersheds. In Weston the projects were ball fields built on water-utility land, thanks to an eleventh-hour legislative exemption. We are working to see that these problematic fields are properly managed, with no impact on source water. In Simsbury, working with local activitists, we were the first organization to point out that a proposed residential development at the Ethel Walker School would be in violation of state law. Negotiations are ongoing to preserve this open space.
v Water Supply Plans. Following September 11, 2001, water utilities pushed through legislation to keep water supply plans secret. Rivers Alliance has an agreement with the Connecticut River Water Works Association to develop a fair process for access to these plans; we have also filed a petition under the Freedom of Information Act.
v Water Diversion Permits. Rivers Alliance was a leading member of the team that recently negotiated protective terms in DEP general permits for water diversions. We have also become a party in party in a water diversion permit pending between Torrington Water Company and Aquarion in Litchfield. When a utility is selling water out of basin, it should also provide water for the streams and rivers in its own basin.
v Pesticides in State Waters. Rivers Alliance has stood with the Roxbury Inland-Wetlands Commission in its demand that DEP work with towns before giving out permits for applications of pesticides in ponds, lakes and other waters. We will continue to press for further changes in this program.
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Education. We are continuing our longstanding program of speaking to garden clubs and other civic groups about the importance of reducing use of pesticides and excess fertilizer in gardening and landscaping. We are launching a new initiative to develop educational materials for town commissioners and others on the new on-site sewage-treatment technologies that are being brought forward statewide, and especially on the coast and in Fairfield County. These packaged systems are often proposed for sensitive watershed areas. It is extremely difficult to get their performance records or even enough information to know what questions to ask. We aim to answer this need.
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