The agency launches improved website for beach advisories and closures WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it will provide $9.8 million in grants to 38 states, territories and tribes to help protect the health of swimmers at America’s beaches. The agency also launched an improved website for beach advisories and
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Exide Group Inc., under orders from the state DEEP to remove the lead that was leaked from its Post Road factory for 30 years, has been conducting informational meetings with residents and town officials in preparation for a formal hearing before the DEEP in either February or March for permits for its plan. The Connecticut Post reports.

The town of Southington is about to embark on an expensive project, courtesy of a federal mandate requiring the state to address high levels of phosphorus in its rivers and streams.

The residents of North Mianus have settled their protracted lawsuits against the Town of Greenwich over who should pay for the installation of sewers in that area of town. Greenwich Patch reports.

Construction of a fish bypass in the Naugatuck River could finally begin this spring. It has been in the works for 14 years. The Board of Selectmen last week voted on two final components that were holding up the project. The New Haven Register reports.

One of the largest wetlands-restoration efforts in a Connecticut urban area is under way along the West River between Route 1 and Chapel Street, where three new self-regulating tide gates soon will restore more natural salinity to 50 acres of lush tidal marsh. The New Haven Register reports.

47 sewage treatment plants reported spills to the DEEP during two 2011 storms and their aftermath. But sewage spills into the Sound are not as rare as a once-in-a-generation storm such as Irene.

With President Obama set to unveil his annual budget plan next month, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has urged the Office of Management and Budget Director to include more federal funding for water and sewer infrastructure in the President’s final FY 2013 budget. Senator Gillibrand called for allocating at least $2.1 billion for the federal clean water program and $1.4 billion for drinking water improvement programs in this year’s blueprint – a significant increase from last year’s FY 2012 budget.

2012 is the Year of the Dragon – apparently a sign that is unafraid of challenges and willing to take risks. That is something we need in Stamford, writes Karen DeFalco of the North Stamford Concerned Citizens for the Environment. We’re looking forward to collecting a huge amount of water quality data this year that, if confronted with an open mind, should have a tremendously positive impact on our community. Click on this environmental headline for more of this dispatch from DeFalco.

While power outages during Tropical Storm Irene and the October snowstorm left much of the state in the dark, they had a less-publicized but possibly more damaging result — millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into waterways throughout Connecticut when backup power systems failed at waste treatment plants. The Hartford Courant reports.

One of the biggest challenges facing the Bridgeport region is the sewer system. Bridgeport’s system is in need of updating, Trumbull needs to find a way to lower its sewage costs, and Monroe doesn’t have one at all.

The Quinebaug River has a legacy of pollution. Historically, the Quinebaug, and its numerous tributaries, played an important role in the industrial development of Connecticut and Massachusetts with its mills and dams.

The upgrade should eliminate sewage overflows into Wethersfield cove, an inlet of the Connecticut River just south of the MDC sewage treatment plant in Hartford. The Hartford Courant reports.

Preliminary plans endorsed by the region’s chief elected officials last month call for development of new drinking water supplies of up to 10 million gallons per day, with several potential new sources identified for further investigation. [wh-reservoir]

All seals are protected under the Marine Mammal Act of 1972, which was enacted to protect and manage marine mammals such as whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions. If you are seal watching on your own, be sure to stay at least 50 yards from all wild seals.

With federal funding to protect Long Island Sound set to expire this month, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Joe Lieberman, Richard Blumenthal, and Charles E. Schumer today introduced legislation to continue to support the restoration of Long Island Sound through 2016.

For dozens of projects whose aim is cleaner water for Long Island Sound, as well as the land around it, that means waiting while two key pieces of federal legislation remain caught in the uncertainties of Washington’s political battles, The Connecticut Mirror reports.

The group’s mission is to abate and prevent pollution of the Niantic River, a unique estuary, and its watershed, which includes parts of East Lyme, Montville, Salem and Waterford.

A legislative committee today unanimously approved regulations for the amounts of water that must be released from dams to maintain ecologically healthy flows in all the state’s rivers and streams.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, the Connecticut General Assembly’s Regulation Review Committee is scheduled to vote on final approval of the first comprehensive state regulations to govern how much water suppliers must release into rivers and streams from their reservoirs.