New Report Identifies Pervasive Risks to, Strategies to Safeguard, Drinking Water in Connecticut
[Sandy Hook, Connecticut, 12/24/2024] – The Western Connecticut Council of Governments (WestCOG) has released a groundbreaking report, “Safeguarding Public Water Supply Watersheds: Local Strategies to Prevent Chemical, Petroleum, and Stormwater Contamination of Connecticut’s Drinking Water Resources”, identifying vulnerabilities in Connecticut’s drinking water protections. The report includes a first-ever analysis of environmental release data, documenting over 120,000 reported spills into Connecticut watersheds. The report highlights how these spills, many involving potentially hazardous contaminants, seep through the cracks in the state’s environmental laws, especially in the 80% of public water supply watershed (PWSW) land that is privately owned and which is not subject to state regulation. In these areas, the first, and only, line of defense is municipal zoning regulations. While state law empowers (and directs) zoning commissions to protect drinking water, the report finds that zoning protections for surface drinking water supplies are often inconsistent and largely absent.Key Findings:
- Frequent Spills: Between 1997 and 2022, over 120,000 spills were reported in PWSWs. These releases – which include a range of industrial chemicals, petroleum products, and PFAS-containing substances, in addition to wastewater – underscore the scale and severity of the contamination threat.
- State Regulatory Gaps: Approximately 80% of PWSW land has no formal protection aside from local zoning, creating vulnerabilities to industrial releases, septic system failures, and non-point source pollution.
- Local Inaction: Over half of municipalities (66 of 129) with PWSW land have not provided any public water supply watershed protections in their zoning. A further quarter (31 of 129) have adopted only minimal protections. Robust protections apply to just 20% of private PWSW land statewide.
In response to these findings, the report catalogs a range of best practices and recommendations for public drinking supply watershed protection. These practices, which are modeled on successful programs in peer states including New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, as well as in Connecticut’s own experience with Aquifer Protection Areas, can serve as models for Connecticut. Safeguarding Public Water Supply Watersheds includes a Checklist for Watershed Protection that zoning commissions can step through to ensure that their regulations provide adequate protection to critical drinking water resources.
“This report is a wake-up call for our state,” said Francis Pickering, WestCOG Executive Director. “Every spill poses a risk to our drinking water. By adopting strong, science-based protections, municipalities can ensure a safe and sustainable water supply for generations to come.”