This Week in the News: Rain Gardens & Proposed DEEP Budget Cuts

A few news stories came out this week highlighting some of the items we’ve been working on here in the CFE/Save the Sound office.

Quinnipiac River Rain Garden Project

The Hartford Courant wrote a nice summary of our Quinnipiac River Rain Garden project on November 27. For those who don’t know, we received a grant earlier this year from the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Quinnipiac River Groundwater Natural Resources Damages Fund to expand drinking water supplies in the Quinnipiac River Watershed. We are working to do this by capturing the rain that runs off roofs and perhaps parking lots and redirect it back into the ground through the installation of rain gardens and other green infrastructure techniques.

A rain garden at Secretary of the State Denise Merrill's house in Hartford
A rain garden at Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s house in Hartford

According to the Courant’s article,

“Brumback said Save The Sound approached the town about letting residents know about the rain gardens, which could help decrease the contaminents that runoff water now carries into local streams, which feed the Quinnipiac River watershed.

“This will not cost the town anything,” Brumback said. “Save The Sound wants to let people know about the program by having information posted on the town website.”

The group is offering a limited number of grants up to $1,500 to offset the cost of constructing rain gardens.”

The full article can be read here.

You can learn more about our Quinnipiac River project by visiting www.reducerunoff.org.

DEEP Budget Cuts

Earlier this week, Governor Malloy released his proposed budget cuts in an effort to keep the state budget in balance. Included in the proposal was $1.45 million in cuts to the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The proposed cuts include:

  • $487,699 to the DEEP’s Environmental Quality fund
  • $424,781 to the DEEP’s Environmental Conservation fund
  • $241,466 to the DEEP’s Clean Air fund

Our senior attorney Roger Reynolds was interviewed by the New Haven Register yesterday about the proposed cuts. In the article, Roger discusses how the agency is already under-resourced.

“That’s going to get worse,” Reynolds said.

DEEP “has more on its plate now than ever,” Reynolds said. The cuts “are really going to hamper” its efforts.

“You’re also going to see a lot of park closings if these cuts get instituted and I think you’re going to see (fee) increases at the parks that stay open,” he said. “I think you’re going to see beaches without lifeguards.”

You can read the full article here.

Posted by Rebecca Kaplan, director of communications for CFE/Save the Sound


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