Long Island Sound’s watchdog will monitor the water in a new boat provided by donors to inspect for pollutants.
Bill Lucey, the Long Island Soundkeeper, and his team christened their new boat this weekend.
“In the summertime, I’m in the boat a lot. We respond to citizens when they smell something bad or see some pollution, we’ll troll over there, take water samples if we need to and see if there’s a sewage break somewhere.”
The boat’s got some cool new tools to sample water and to remove trash from the Sound.
“This is my favorite feature right here…Every trip we pick up a bunch of balloons floating out there, a lot of mylar balloons, any kind of trash we scoop it up right here.”
The boat is named after Terry Backer – the first person to hold the title of Soundkeeper. Backer was a state representative from Stratford until his death in 2015. Joe Gresko, who holds that position now, says Backer would be proud.
“I’m sure he’s looking down on us and smiling that we are continuing his legacy. We all learned a lot from Terry, and it’s our responsibility to pick up the torch and continue the good work.”
The Long Island Soundkeeper has a few more jobs, too. One is to lobby with Connecticut Fund for the Environment for clean water legislation in Hartford and Washington, D.C.
