CSREES New England Water Quality Programming in Connecticut
University of Connecticut (UConn) Cooperative Extension Natural Resources/Land Use/ Environment
University of Connecticut (UConn) Cooperative Extension
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
Agricultural Nutrient and Pest Management
State Contacts
The
use of manure and other organic nutrient sources can result in conditions
that create nutrient deficiencies or excess depending on management.
Particularly, phosphorus levels can build up in the soil when organic
nutrient sources are used to supply adequate nitrogen causing water
quality risks. Research 
is
being conducted at UConn to develop organic vegetable
production systems that reduce excessive P loading.
Riparian buffers can be an important tool in nutrient
and pesticide management. Buffer
research is
being conducted at UConn.
Pro
New England is
a collaborative of the six New England Land Grant Universities and
their Cooperative Extension programs working together to communicate pest
management research and information with a regional focus.
Their goal is effective, economical, environmentally-sound, and socially-sensitive
pest management for New England.
UConn Cooperative
Extension IPM
UConn
partners with CT NRCS and CT Department of Environmental Protection
to develop performance-based Comprehensive Nutrient Management
Plans that incorporate current research on soil and tissue testing
and comprehensive field data collected over multiple years. UConn
has over 9,500 acres under these performance-based plans.
UConn
continues to research the end-of-season corn stalk test to refine
nitrogen management in silage corn production.
UConn
has completed research on farmer behavior change following
a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan for a period of 4 or more
years, which will be published in 2007.
Extension
and NRCS from CT belong to the Southern New England
Grazing Network where information about grazing is freely exchanged including regional
pasture walks and events.
Related Research:
| Project ID |
Title |
Investigator(s) |
Affiliation |
| 0179183 |
PLANT HEALTH CARE FOR THE CONNECTICUT NURSERY AND LANDSCAPING INDUSTRIES |
Abbey, T. M. |
CT Agricultural Experiment Station |
| 0174938 |
QUANTIFYING INFECTION PROBABILITY TO IMPROVE INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF APPLE SCAB |
Aylor, D. E. |
CT Agricultural Experiment Station |
| 0173196 |
UTILIZATION OF COMPOST AND COVER CROPS IN VEGETABLE PRODUCTION |
Maynard, A. A. |
CT Agricultural Experiment Station |
| 0184295 |
IMPACTS OF STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN THE DAIRY INDUSTRY |
Foltz, J. D. |
UNIV OF CONNECTICUT |
| 0183835 |
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR TURF SYSTEMS IN THE EAST |
Guillard, K. |
UNIV OF CONNECTICUT |
| 0157396 |
SEASONAL AND CUMULATIVE NITRATE LEACHING LOSSES FROM CORNLAND AND INTENSIVELY GRAZED PASTURE |
Guillard, K. , Allinson, D. W. , and Warner, G. S. |
UNIV OF CONNECTICUT |
| 0190603 |
HORTICULTURAL EVALUATION OF PRODUCTS MADE FROM DAIRY MANURE FIBER |
Morris, T. F.; Elliott, G. C. |
UNIV OF CONNECTICUT |
| 0183946 |
LATE-SEASON FERTILIZATION EFFECTS ON TURFGRASS GROWTH AND NITRATE LEACHING |
Guillard, K. and Morris, T. F. |
UNIV OF CONNECTICUT |
Animal Waste Management
State Contacts
The
use of manure and other organic nutrient sources can result in conditions
that create nutrient deficiencies or excess depending on management.
Particularly, phosphorus levels can build up in the soil when organic
nutrient sources are used to supply adequate nitrogen causing water
quality risks. Research is
being conducted at UConn to develop organic vegetable
production systems that reduce excessive P loading.
Riparian
buffers can be an important tool in nutrient and pesticide
management. Buffer
research is
being conducted at UConn.
The
URI Watershed
Hydrology Lab is
collaborating with the CT NEMO
Program and
the USDA NRCS Rhode Island to adapt and examine the use of bioretention
filters for small livestock operations. Treatment of leachate from
composted manure and runoff from heavy use horse paddocks will be
the initial focus of the work. Results will be incorporated into
URI Cooperative Extension’s small
acreage livestock education program . This team recently gave
a presentation on "Bio-infiltration
and Bio-reactors: New WQ BMPs for Agricultural Applications in Southern
RI?" at the Southern New England Chapter of the Soil and
Water Conservaton Society's Low Impact Development Workshop.
Research
at UConn concentrated on reducing nutrient loss from manure field
stacks by layering organic materials such as compost, leaves, straw
and wood chips. The research included on-farm trials and collaboration
with the New England Small Farm Institute and was supported by USDA
Northeast SARE and USDA NRCS. Results of the research are being incorporated
into the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension Small
Acreage Livestock Education Program . For more information about
the research contact Tom
Morris.
New England Private Well Initiative
State Contacts
The
Jordan Cove Urban Watershed Project 
of
UConn assessed water quality and quantity benefits of using pollution
prevention best management practices (BMPs) in a residential subdivision.
This study, one of the Section 319 National Monitoring Program Projects,
used a paired watershed approach over two different time periods –
calibration and treatment – and three different watersheds – one
control and two treatments (traditional development and development with
BMPs). Mid-project results indicated that typical hydrologic alterations
due to construction activities, such as increased runoff volume, were not
found in the watershed with BMPs. If these BMPs are used more extensively,
pollution filtering potential of wetlands may continue safeguarding water
quality.
URI,
UConn and ASU are collaborating on a new CSREES Integrated project
that will gain more insight into sources
and sinks of nitrate and
translate results into a model to be tested extensively and distributed
via the National NEMO
Network .
A tri-fold
brochure on private well testing and protection has been developed
for Connecticut .The
brochures will be distributed along with accompanying display board
to public places within each state in New England.
The
UConn Cooperative Extension’s Residential Water
Quality Program works
with community leaders, local town health officers, other community
volunteers, and residents throughout their state to educate about water
supply protection, maintenance, and treatment. The program offers free
educational community outreach programs and private well factsheets
for landowners and real estate agents.
New England NEMO
State Contacts
CT
NEMO (Nonpoint
Education for Municipal Officials) program
developmed tools that analyze impervious cover as an indicator
of watershed health. Ten additional educational modules were
integrated into the program’s
original pilot project, Linking
Land Use and Water Quality.
The project’s workshops continue to be a NEMO programmatic mainstay.Catalyzed
by NEMO educational programs and information, towns throughout
CT have changed their land use plans, regulations, policies
and procedures in order to protect water quality. The CT State
Nonpoint Source Plan, Coastal Nonpoint Source Plan, and new
Stormwater Quality Manual incorporate NEMO principles. The CT NEMO program
ocuments success
stories in
the communities in which they work. NEMO programs and references
have been incorporated into many CT
state plans and policy documents . CT
NEMO ,
and its sister project, the NAUTILUS Center, have several interactive
internet mapping sites ( CLEAR ),
where land use managers can download land cover, watershed,
and other information using their internet browser.
A
project at UConn aimed to determine whether the quality of
runoff from a local suburban neighborhood would improve as a result
of educating homeowners about residential Best Management Practices
(BMPs). The
results from the study were published in the Journal
of Extension.
CT
NEMO's Sustainable
Landscape Demonstration Project features
water-friendly design elements that NEMO recommends, including
pervious parking stalls, rain gardens, an engineered grass "green" parking
lot, and bioretention areas.
UConn
houses the National
NEMO Network ,
a CSREES National Facilitation Project. This project provides
coordination, training, and communication services to new and
existing NEMO projects that are led by Land Grant Universities. Through these
efforts, New England demonstration projects are promoted nation-wide.
CT
NEMO ,UConn,
and other partners are involved in the Jordan
Cove Project ,
a "shared watershed" research and demonstration
project monitoring runoff pollution from two adjacent subdivisions,
one of conventional design and one incorporating biological,
design, and mechanical stormwater BMPs.
University
of Connecticut GeoSpatial
Technology Program
URI, CT
NEMO, and ASU will trasmit their developed
environmental spatial decision support system to
NEMO programs and NRCS. This tool will help communities and NRCS to isolate
and protect watershed areas where nitrogen pollution removal is expected
and focus efforts on reducing sources of nitrogen in watersheds with little
pollution removal capacity.
UConn
researchers are assessing the ability of public programs and policies
to achieve
socially optimal results in
managing natural resources and the environment.
CT
NEMO
has
developed many tools. They helped develop the Impervious
Surface Analysis Tool (ISAT) which
calculates the percentage of impervious surface area of specific areas
(e.g., watersheds, municipalities, subdivisions) and incorporates land
cover change scenarios to examine how changes influence impervious
surfaces. ISAT is helping communities minimize impervious surface therefore
protecting watershed health and water quality.
The Laboratory
for Earth Resources Information Systems (LERIS) ,
a NASA-funded Regional Earth Science Applications
Center at UConn, brings remote sensing technology to decision makers
concerned about the impacts of land use change on their communitiy's
water resources. Research focuses on improved land cover mapping
and change detection, impervious surface estimation and mapping, forest
fragmentation characterization, and urban growth modeling.
UConn
regularly taps the graduate student talent pool to expand the applied research
base for their Extension water quality programs. Each year, the Connecticut
Space Grant program sponsors
a graduate fellow to work with the UConn
Geospatial Technology Program on
projects investigating the use of remote sensing and GIS for better
landscape characterization. The 2003 Fellow looked at the use
of remote sensing for
identifying areas of the invasive reed Phragmites australis . Other
grad students working with the NEMO program have conducted research on such
topics as the use of pervious pavements in cold climates and the use of
census and land cover data in tandem to predict watershed impervious coverage.
River and Stream Restoration
The River
and Stream Crossing Continuity Project at
UMass inventories and addresses barriers to fish movement and
river and stream continuity. This project has expanded
the online
database for
road-stream crossings to accomodate more than 2,300 volunteer-based surveys
collected in CT, RI, VT and NH; developed River
and Stream Crossing Standards that
are serving as a model for the development of state standards
in CT; and provided
technical assistance to the Department of Environmental Protection
in CT enabling these agencies to develop statewide
minimum stream flow.
Researchers
from The Northeast Instream
Habitat Program (NEIHP) and
UConn are assessing the long-term impacts of UConn campus water
supply wells on the aquatic
habitat of the Fenton River .
This project aims to: evaluate the relationship between fish habitat and
in-stream flow, use mathematical simulation modeling to explore the relationship
between groundwater withdrawals and river flow, and develop and test water
management scenarios.
Seven
undergraduate and graduate students from UMass and UConn gained
valuable training and experience while
working as technicians on NEIHP projects.
Sustainable Landscaping
State Contacts
Partnerships
with CT Master
Gardener Programs provide
water quality information for volunteers responding to consumer questions.
Master Gardeners participate in a variety of landscaping projects within
each state.
Voluntary pollution prevention education programs, modeled
after the National Home*A*Syst Program, train residents
and
local volunteers in Connecticut
to identify and reduce water quality risks in and around the home.
UConn
Cooperative Extension L.A.W.N.S
(Learning About Water and Nutrient Strategies) Program teaches
homeowners how to protect water resources through proper nutrient
management practices for lawns and use of low input turf species.
Connecticut
NEMO features
the Sustainable
Landscape Demonstration Project which
includes water-friendly design elements that recommend in
their educational programs, including pervious parking stalls,
rain gardens, an engineered grass "green"
parking lot, and bioretention areas.
Focus
area members from UConn partnered with the Northeast IPM Center and
Mid-Atlantic Regional Water Program to organize the present at the
first Green-Blue Summit on residential pest management, nutrients,
and water quality. People from across the Northeast attended the Summit.
As a result, the Northeast IPM Center released an RFA for projects
focused on educating residents in the Northeast on how using IPM in
residential structures and landscapes can affect water quality. The
summit released a listing of comments
and suggestions on
what the focus issues should be.
An Integrated
Project between UNH, Portsmouth State College, UConn, URI, UVM, and UMaine applies
environmental and behavioral research results to
extension efforts to reduce the application of excess nutrients by
homeowners in targeted, urbanizing neighborhoods throughout New England.
Related Water Quality Information in Connecticut
Digital Atlases
UConn's MAGIC Library for Geospatial Data
USEPA's EnviroMapper for Connecticut
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and 303(d) Programs
Soundkeeper: Long Island Sound TMDL
CT DEP: Long Island Sound TMDL
CT CALM: Listing of Impaired Waters
Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP)
CT Department of Public Health: Drinking Water Division
Storm Water Phase II Program
USEPA's
Storm Water Regulations for New England
GIS Resources
State GIS website
Agricultural
Nutrient and Pest Management