Citizen’s Forum on Black Rock Harbor – April 11th
You’re Invited! Our Councilperson Pete Spain has organized a Citizens’ Forum on Black Rock Harbor: Measure and Monitor Water Quality, Invest in Critical Infrastructure, and Improve Our Harbor on Thursday, April 11th at 5:30 PM at the Black Rock School – Gym.
ACCA is part of a local coalition taking part in an EPA funded water quality monitoring program that will measure and report on water quality in Black Rock Harbor called the Unified Water Study. This forum will provide an update on the progress of that program and the challenges of using that information to improve water quality in Black Rock Harbor.
Pete explains it best in his recent email invite which included the following information:
In 018, Black Rock Harbor had one of its biggest fish kills in recent years, and our Water Pollution Control Authority’s (WPCA’s) West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant reported approximately 41 effluent violations, at least 20 of which were at least double the allowable limit. Most of these violations were above limits set for enterococci, fecal coliform, biological oxygen demand (BOD), and total suspended solids.
More than 300 residents in Black Rock have signed an online petition so far, demanding something be done to improve water quality in Black Rock Harbor. If you haven’t signed it, please do so today.
Save the Sound’s website featured a piece about our harbor, entitled “The Rise and Fall of Black Rock Harbor”:
A scary scene plays out below the surface of Bridgeport’s Black Rock Harbor in a video made by Electrona Robotics this past November. Slips of dark sludge coating the harbor floor. Pea-green water swirling with chunks of waste. Clouds of murky black matter. Not a fish in sight. … “A buildup of nitrogen and raw sewage has led to fish kills, ever-present odorous sludge, and an overall decimation of what must have once been an incredibly vibrant ecosystem,” said Soundkeeper Bill Lucey, who keeps the Save the Sound’s patrol boat, the Terry Backer, in Black Rock Harbor.”
Please join Councilperson Pete Spain, ACCA, Save the Sound, the new head of WPCA, CT DEEP, and our community on April 11th to learn what’s being done to address this unacceptable situation — now for the near- and long-term at a follow-up to the October 1918 presentation by Save the Sound’s Soundkeeper, Bill Lucey.
Citizens’ Forum: Black Rock Harbor: Our Harbor to Save … Gathering Two
Thursday, April 11th, Black Rock School — Gym, 545 Brewster St, Bridgeport, CT 06605
5:30 – 7 PM
Speakers at this event:
Lauren Mappa— Director, WPCA, Bridgeport, CT.
Ann Straut— CT Dept of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), Water Planning and Management Division, Water Protection and Land Reuse Bureau, Hartford, CT.
Bill Lucey— Soundkeeper, Long Island Sound, Save the Sound.
Speakers will be followed by an open Q&A.
Come early and bring a friend and neighbor. This is an important ACCA project which we will be involved with for a number of years.