Purpose of this project:

We realized that our nearly 30-year dataset was being underutilized. We set out to analyze the bacteria, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen data we have collected from 1995-2023 to help municipal leaders, watershed stakeholders, and the public better understand changes in water quality over time, and how abiotic factors like land use, climate change, and demographic data impact the health of our waterways. The goal of the project was to provide a long-term analysis that could be leveraged so that watershed stakeholders could make informed decisions regarding resource allocation, policy development, and infrastructure planning to preserve and enhance water quality throughout Fairfield County. The outputs of this project include a county-wide summary of the analyses conducted with the entire dataset, a deeper dive into specific watersheds in each municipality, and easy to interpret one-pagers for a snapshot of water quality in each town and specific watersheds throughout the county.