Long Island Sound is central to life on the coast of Connecticut and northern Long Island. Scientists at Clark University are looking at ways residents can help keep it clean and how to convince them to do so.
Clark economics professor Dr. Robert Johnston directs the university’s George Perkins Marsh Institute, which is affiliated with the School of Climate, Environment, and Society.
For this years-long project, he’s focused on how human activity pollutes the major waterway, which has 600 miles of coastline between Connecticut and New York and serves as a ferry corridor between the two states. His research projects have partly been funded through the Long Island Sound Study, the Connecticut Sea Grant and multiple universities.
The study focuses on two main polluters: aging septic systems and lawn fertilizer, which both leak nitrogen into the Sound. Excess nitrogen in the water causes harmful algal blooms, reducing oxygen and killing other plant and animal life.
Johnston’s study partner, Dr. Jamie Vaudrey from UConn, is focused on nutrient pollution. Johnson focuses on the consumer side—figuring out what change campaigns have the most impact.
“It's both about designing the programs right, but also targeting them right spatially, figuring out what are the communities, what are the types of households that are really using the most fertilizer,” Johnston said. “So you can target your messages where they can potentially have a greater impact.”
When the project is finished, he hopes it will help municipal governments and nonprofits deliver better messages about local pollution — and what's causing it — to change their behavior.
That includes messaging about various state and federal programs that help residents replace their aging infrastructure.
Johnston said Suffolk County is an example. They offer $15,000 grants to help offset the cost of a new system, which can be as much as $30,000.
“They have a lot of money that is currently being spent to do this, but there are no studies out there that really help to identify what types of programs are going to be most effective at encouraging people to upgrade their system,” Johnston said.
The study is expected to last two years.
