Simply put, Long Island Sound used to be pretty gross.
About two decades ago, a group of frustrated fishermen formed the Waterkeeper Alliance and mapped out the region’s pollution. The areas in black mark the spots with zero oxygen.
Bill Lucey with the nonprofit Save the Sound is Long Island Soundkeeper.
“Anybody fishing in those areas for lobster or menhaden was seeing lots of dead animals," he said. "This was because of all the semi or unregulated sewage, violations of the Clean Water Act that were really polluting Long Island Sound."
As an estuary — where freshwater from rivers meets saltwater from the ocean — Long Island Sound is a biodiversity hotspot. More than 1,200 species call the Sound home, from shellfish to shorebirds.
While there is still work to be done, today things are looking up thanks to state and federal efforts, and updated infrastructure at sewage treatment plants. Save the Sound awarded As and Bs for water quality to more than 70% of local beaches last summer.
“We’ve seen an increase in water quality and a decrease in nitrogen. Nitrogen is what causes that green pea soup that we can see out there, basically fertilizing the plankton," Lucey said. "So all the storm water runoff from the fertilizers we put on our lawns, pet waste, the leaky sewage — that all goes in the Sound. So, we’re doing a pretty good job; we just need to keep it going.”
With more than eight million people living within the Long Island Sound watershed, Lucey said all residents need to be the eyes and ears on the Sound.
“Soundkeeper is all of us. I might be the spokesperson, but we don’t function without everybody in New York and Connecticut who live near Long Island Sound helping us out. This is a collective problem. Pollution is all of us, and we need to help each other out.”
Visit SaveTheSound.org for volunteer opportunities this fall, from eel grass plantings to beach cleanups.
Report pollution to pollution@savethesound.org.
