Projects

to support the monitoring of marsh surface elevations as well as the salinity and vegetation in one lobe of the marsh, and to support measurement of soil salinity and vegetation cover in marsh-bordering areas at the Quinnipiac Meadows Preserve.

To support the measurement of mercury in bottom sediments and in fish from ponds spanning the Quinnipiac River watershed to determine where it exceeds safety thresholds.

To support the sampling of cyanobacterial communities in the Quinnipiac River in order to identify and monitor known bloom-forming species that may also produce toxins.

To support an examination of the seasonal variation in the composition and quantity of microplastic particles from wastewater treatment facilities discharging treated wastewater into the Quinnipiac River.

To support monitoring, identifying and quantifying known pollutants from industrial outflows along the Quinnipiac River, specifically industrial areas in Wallingford and North Haven.

To continue to work on scientifically validated Stream Team assessment program, to redesign the program to use a larger poll of personnel who will learn to perform rapid assessment  in the field to collect baseline and annual data, develop a bioassessment protocol for the salt marsh in the lower river that can be performed by teams, and enlarge citizen "eyes on the river," the Adopt-the-River program, but reorganizing adopters so that they are convened together at least once per year to learn skills of river protection and restoration and to report progress to officials.

To test the hypothesis that Cytec is discharging into the Quinnipiac a large amount ot polymeric formaldehyde which a) has not been accounted for in the permitting process; b) becomes bioavailable over time; c) has great potential to accumulate in sediments and organisms.

To analyze and report on a comparison of effluent monitoring data to permit requirements for industrial National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit holders in the Quinnipiac River Watershed.

To support the project entitled Comparison of Sediment Contaminants in the Branford River and the Quinnipiac River and their effects on the Benthic community.  This proposed research is an investigation of the sediment contaminant load of five sites in the Quinnipiac River and three sites within the Branford River.