What better way to begin the day than with an early morning paddle or boat ride! This is exactly what our staff in Stonington and New London are doing to test the water quality of Long Island Sound (LIS) in Stonington Harbor and Alewife Cove. Save the Sound is a nonprofit that protects Connecticut and the greater Long Island Sound environments. Every year, Save the Sound collects data for their Unified Water Study to take a closer look at the health of Long Island Sound.

Why Should We Study the Sound?

It is hard to determine the health of LIS, because it covers such a large area of water and different groups have different methods to test water quality conditions. The Unified Water Study (UWS) was created so that groups around LIS can compare data on the environmental health of the bays and harbors of the Sound. This project started in 2017 and will help increase the data available to assess LIS’s water quality. This can help us understand the Sound and what we need to do to keep it working as it should!

Who Helps Collect Data?

Save the Sound provided local monitoring groups, such as NESS, with monitoring equipment, training, custom study designs based on their location, and other resources needed. With these tools, we were able to determine dissolved oxygen, water clarity, temperature, salinity, among other measures of quality. We took samples from multiple spots in the Cove and the Harbor to make sure we had a good baseline assessment of each location. We look forward to seeing the results of this year’s study!

Thank you to Save our Sound for letting us help and shout out to our NESS staff who volunteered to do some early morning sampling! We do what we can to keep our waters healthy, so we can continue all our great on the water programs!

For more information about the UWS and Save our Sound, visit http://www.ctenvironment.org/what-we-do/saving-sound-rivers/measuring-water-quality/unified-water-study/.