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Candlewood Presentation
- 1. Policies Influence the Health of Candlewood Lake Christina Alvarez Senior Thesis April 25, 2016 Dr. Ward
- 2. The Value of Water
- 6. Candlewood Lake Since 1928 New Milford Danbury Sherman Brookfield New Fairfield 0 2 41 Miles NewYork Legend Watershed Boundary Town Boundary Candlewood Lake
- 8. Bacteria Growth at Candlewood Healthy Toxic
- 9. Hypothesis The health of Candlewood Lake is determined by each municipality’s regulations to limit negative influences of the lake ecosystem.
- 11. Septic Systems
- 12. Soil Erosion
- 13. Buffer
- 14. Predictions New Fairfield and Sherman does not have enough policies to influence the lake’s health in a positive way. New Milford has strong policies that would influence the lake in a positive way. As for Brookfield and Danbury, I knew they had decent policies in place but I was unsure how influential they were. Temperature and the amount of rainfall will influence the amount of beach closings
- 16. Temperature & Precipitation Influences 1997 – New Milford Max Temperature – 91.25 F Year Precipitation -108.67 inches 1998 – New Fairfield Max Temperature – 93.0 F Year Precipitation - 73.04 inches 1999 – Brookfield/New Milford Max Temperature – 98.25 F Year Precipitation – 82.73 inches 2000 – Danbury Max Temperature – 97.50 F Year Precipitation – 132.47 inches 2003 Danbury/New Fairfield/New Milford/Sherman Max Temperature – 90.75 F Year Precipitation – 141.78 inches 2004 Danbury/Sherman Max Temperature – 91.30 F Year Precipitation – 123.06 inches 2005 Danbury/New Fairfield/ Sherman Max Temperature – 93.00 F Year Precipitation – 126.00 inches 2006 Brookfield/Danbury/New Fairfield Max Temperature – 95.50 F Year Precipitation – 120.23 Inches 2015 Brookfield/New Fairfield/Sherman Max Temperature – 88.5 F Year Precipitation – 110.50 Inches
- 17. Danbury Correlation Danbury Closings Danbury Impervious Danbury Septic Danbury Soil Erosion Danbury Buffers Danbury Closings Pearson Correlation 1 -.411* -.571** -.411* -.297 *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
- 18. New Fairfield Correlation N. Fairfield Closings N. Fairfield Impervious N. Fairfield Septic N. Fairfield Soil Erosion N.Fairfield Buffers N. Fairfield Closings Pearson Correlation 1 .500** .091 b. .409* *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). b. Cannot be computed because at least one of the variables is constant.
- 20. New Milford Correlation N. Milford Closings N. Milford Impervious N. Milford Septic N. Milford Soil Erosion N. Milford Buffers N. Milford Closings Pearson Correlation 1 -.221 -.241 -.221 -.247
- 21. Sherman Correlation Sherman Closings Sherman Impervious Sherman Septic Sherman Soil Erosion Sherman Buffers Sherman Closings Pearson Correlation 1 .311 .243 .139 .263
- 23. West Side Correlation West Side Closings West Side Impervious West Side Septic West Side Soil Erosion West Side Buffers West Side Closings Pearson Correlation 1 .434* .207 .149 .372 *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). b. Cannot be computed because at least one of the variables is constant.
- 24. East Side Correlation East Side Closings East Side Impervious East Side Septic East Side Soil Erosion East Side Buffers East Side Closings Pearson Correlation 1 -.348 -.084 -.348 -.201
- 25. The Lake As A Whole Lake Policy N. Fairfield Policy Sherman Policy Brookfield Policy Danbury Policy N. Milford Policy Lake Closings Pearson -.294 .012 -.342 -.210 -.417* -.243
- 26. Conclusion Water Regulations are Implemented to Protect and Preserve All Bodies of Water
- 27. Work Cited
Editor's Notes
- So I want to begin by discussing the value of water. Water is a resource that no living thing can live without, preserving it should be a top priority. Many regions around the globe do not have access to fresh water. Currently Ecuador is short on fresh water due to the recent earth quack in its largest city Guayaquil. Water needs to be protected not only for recreational uses but in case of an emergency because fresh water is not always easy to come by.
- Because the importance of fresh water I focused my study on Candlewood Lake. This lake is a man made; built by Connecticut Light and Power for the purpose of producing electric power. As many of you may know it is surrounded by five towns of CT, Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, and Sherman. Within the fives towns the lake’s watershed it is approximately 26,200 acres. A watershed is the region around the lake that can have an effect on the lake as well. Shortly after CL&P built the largest lake in CT, a development of communities grew around it and have been enjoying the lake’s amenities, such as swimming, boating, fishing etc, ever since.
- With everyone in the surrounding towns enjoying the lake no one took into consideration, how they were effecting the lake. It was not until decades later that the communities noticed a change in the lake. The water quality was declining and algae blooms, invasive species, and other forms of bacteria were growing throughout the lake. Although the Candlewood Lake Authority was created to provide public safety and support for the Marine Patrol, they were now given the position of protecting the lake’s water quality. The CLA is still monitoring the water quality of the Lake in over 15 locations twice a week. If the results of the water come back 235 mill molecules over 100 than that section of the lake needs to be closed off. This is because the results indicate high levels of bacteria that are potentially toxic.
- Being a Danbarian, a mother of 2, and an aunt to 2, this makes me a frequent visitor to Candlewood Lake and Squantz Pond ( both are the same body of water). So of course the quality of water is a huge importance to me. Understanding what causes poor water quality and what can be done to stay healthy. After working with the director of the Candlewood Lake Authority I learned that Stormwater Runoff is huge influences to the poor water quality. “Stormwater runoff by the Department of Environment and Energy Protection defines it as a result from rain and snowmelt that runs off surfaces such as rooftops, paved streets, highways, and parking lots. The water runoff picks up and transports contaminants and eventually flows into a local water source” (DEEP), such as the Candlewood Lake.
- Due to stormwater runoff; pollutants enter into the lake and which creates bacteria such as E coli (Escherichia coli), Blue Green Algae (cyanobacteria), coliform bacteria, or others. Looking at the picture on the left you will see a healthy Candlewood Lake, and even sometimes a healthy looking lake has high levels of bacteria. For the lake on right that was a blue algae bloom that appeared last summer. The bloom is a different type of bacteria that Candlewood had never encountered before October of 2013. Luckily the beaches were already closed by CLA first encounter. But in 2015 the bloom returned and left 3 beaches closed on multiple days. Like most bacteria from a watersource, Blue Green Algae can be toxic if a person comes in contact with it, just like the bacteria E Coli. This is what makes it very important to minimize the stromwater runoff.
- Due to my extensive knowledge regarding Candlewood Lake I hypothesized that the health of Candlewood Lake is determined by each towns’ zoning regulations that would help limit stormwater runoff and improve the lake’s health.
- For the best results I separated the regulations relating to stromwater runoff into categories: Impervious surfaces, Septic Systems, although it could be in its own category, Soil Erosion, and Buffers. “Impervious surfaces like asphalt, cement, and roofing prevent infiltration of rainfall into the soil, disrupting the water cycle and affecting both the quantity and quality of our water resource” (University of Conn). The more rainfall the towns have the higher the chance of having a negative impact from stromwater runoff; and when the temperature is warmer that raises the chances even more. EXPLAIN PICTURE
- Septic Systems can be very dangerous to near by bodies of water because septic systems need to be well maintained or the tank with fail or leak. If either of these two situations occur the remains will seep into the ground. Than stromwater runoff picks up the remains and guides them into the nearby body of water
- Soil erosion is the movement or evacuation of soil . This is a potential threat to lakes or any near by water body because it picks up and pushes any pollutants that is in its path.
- The final influence relating to Stromwater runoff are buffers. Buffers are defined differently amongst the towns but the most important definition that will help prevent stormwater runoff is that the “vegetated or natural buffer” that lies in front of body of water. A vegetated or natural buffer is used to minimize stormwater runoff by stopping and limiting the pollutants entering into the lake.
- After separating the influences into categories I went back to determine when each of the towns amended the policies to the standards of DEEP or the CLA. I would mark it as a yes on the SPSS program, for all the years they did not have the policy according to the two organizations they received a no in the SPSS program. To determine whether the policies implemented were effective or ineffective; I compared the regulation data to the number of days the beaches were closed each year over the course of 25 years. I predicted that New Fairfield and Sherman did not have enough or strong enough policies to influence the lake’s health in a positive way. I also predicted that New Milford had strong policies that would influence the lake in a positive way. As for Brookfield and Danbury, I knew they had decent policies in place but I was unsure how influential they were. That the temperature and the amount of rainfall will influence the amount of beach closings
- First data analysis: Frequency between all of the beach closings I broke down the frequency into three sections the East Side, the West Side, and Danbury. East side being Brookfield and New Milford, and the West Side being Sherman and New Fairfield. As you can see there really has not been that many closings but the frequency stays pretty close except for Danbury. In 1992 Danbury had to close down its town park due to septic system leakage and it did not get cleared up until end of 1994’s summer.
- The second analysis I conducted was the correlation between Temperature and Precipitation to the closings. I had a difficult time trying to correlate the findings on SPSS. So instead I went through a marked all the times there was a closing to the temperature and precipitation at the time as well. Also with bacteria growth the pollutants could have been siting there from the year prior so when correlating these numbers you have to look at the surrounding years as well.
- As you can see there is a Negative Correlation. For my study that means that when more policies or the right policy is implemented there are less beach closings. This was a surprise to me since they do not have specific policies that refer to Candlewood Lake. Since Danbury replaced the septic systems with a sewer system they have had very few beach closings.
- For New Fairfield there is a positive correlations. For my study that means implemented policies or the lack of policies, did NOT influence the health of the lake in a positive way. When New Fairfield implemented a policy they did not change the trend of beach closings.
- Brookfield’s analysis shows that the policies that they have implemented are not influencing the lake in a negative or positive way. Yet, if we continued this study over the next 20 years we could see some serious changes. I know that Brookfield just implemented a walk over program similar to New Fairfield’s walk over program. The walk over was created for the town to identify a failing septic tank and to monitor how often a tank is cleaned. Converting an entire town to a sewer system is time consuming and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars that most municipalities do not have.
- For New Fairfield there is a positive correlations. For my study that means implemented policies or the lack of policies in did NOT influence the health of the lake in a positive way. When New Fairfield implemented a policy they did not change the trend of beach closings.
- As you can see there is no significant variable but you can see a trend that is demonstrating the town has not implemented strong enough policies. Sherman has proposed ordinances and regulations to help minimize the stormwater runoff but, none of which has been implemented. If they do not act soon the trend will continue and in the next 5 years there will be a significant correlation between the beach closings and policies… just not in the direction that would be minimizing the stormwater runoff.
- Lets look at the map before we view the correlation between west side and east side again. so you can see which towns belong to which side. Water travels so if a nearby town has bacteria in it that bacteria can easily travel to the next town over and consequently closing it beach. As stated before Sherman and New Fairfield are on the west side and New Milford and Brookfield are on the East side.
- Due to the constant current of water it is significant to take into account that some bacteria could have came from another location. If we look back at the map you will see that the west side is made up of Sherman and New Fairfield the two towns that have not implemented strong policies, yet they have the largest area to protect. When we combine the region together there is a strong correlation between beach closings and impervious surfaces.
- Now when we look on the eastern side of the lake the two towns that have started to implement policy and had less beach closings. This analysis all though does not significantly demonstrate that the Eastern Region is on the right path.
- Now when we look on the eastern side of the lake the two towns that have started to implement policy and had less beach closings. This analysis all though not significant demonstrates that the Eastern Region is on the right path. It also indicates the the Western Region is slowly coming around as well. Although Danbury is the only City that has a significant correlations other towns have low correlations as well.
- To conclude my study demonstrated the regulations can affect the health of a body of water. It takes time and patients but eventually the health will recover. Currently, Candlewood Lake is faced with a new type of bacteria, cyanobacteria or blue-green algae. It first appeared in 2013 and again last year. The towns with strong policy did not close but the towns with minimal or no regulations had to close for over 8 days. I hope that the towns recognize the risk the lake is in and begin to take action protecting its valuable resource.
- United States. Candlewood Lake Authority. “2002 Action Plan For Preserving Candlewood Lake”. Candlewood Lake Authority, 2001 United States. Department of Land Use. Brookfield, Connecticut. “Zoning Regulations”. Town of Brookfield, Connecticut. Department of Land Use. July 3, 2015. Web. April 20 2016. United States. Department of Land Use. Brookfield, Connecticut. “Inland, Wetland, and Watercourse Regulations”. Town of Brookfield, Connecticut. Department of Land Use. July 1, 2013. Web. April 20 2016 United States. New Milford, Connecticut. “Town of New Milford Ordinance” Town of New Milford, Connecticut. March 9 2015 Web. April 20 2016 United States. Department of Zoning. New Milford, Connecticut. “Zoning Regulations”. Town of New Milford, Connecticut. Department of Zoning. June 26 2015. Web. April 20 2016. United States. Department of Zoning. New Milford, Connecticut. “Inland, Wetland, and Watercourse Regulations”. Town of New Milford, Connecticut. Department of Zoning. March 6 2010. Web. April 20 2016. United States. Department of Zoning. New Fairfield, Connecticut. “Zoning Regulations”. Town of New Fairfield