Standing in the parking lot of the Tuscany Restaurant Pizzeria at 935 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike in Southington Monday morning, Mary Mushinsky pointed out the willowy foxtail barley growing in the drainage ditch leading from a catch basin to Misery Brook, which drains into the nearby Quinnipiac River.
The plants could just as easily be seen as a weed that needs to be hacked down, but Mushinsky, the association's executive director, said they play a critical role in filtering out the pollutants that would otherwise make their way into the water and affect wildlife living and hunting there. She gave the owners of Tuscany high marks for maintaining the barley.
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The 38-mile Quinnipiac River passes through Wallingford, Meriden, Southington and Cheshire on its way to Long Island Sound, and what's on the 165 square miles of bordering lands that drain into it often ends up in the river, Mushinsky said.
An extreme example of this is Crow Hollow Brook in Meriden's Hubbard Park, which is polluted by petroleum runoff from Interstate 691. Enough runoff enters it to kill many of the fish and insect species that would otherwise live there, Mushinsky said last year.
Along with her intern, 16-year-old Eric Rivera, of Meriden, she plans to approach as many businesses as possible and get them signed up as friends to prevent as much of this pollution as possible.
The project is a new one backed by grants from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Rivera, a student at the vocational agriculture program at Lyman Hall High School in Wallingford, said he likes the job because it keeps him working outside and meeting people.
Many business owners don't think they're causing problems by dumping something into a storm drain, Rivera said, and they're willing to change their ways when someone points it out to them.
"It opens people's eyes," he said.
The going isn't always easy, though.
Mushinsky has run into a few owners who don't seem very interested in adopting environmentally friendly practices, she said, or are more concerned about how much more it will cost.
Most, however, are willing to cooperate, she said.
Andrew Urbanski, manager of Townline Discount Wines and Liquors, in Plantsville on the Cheshire town line, assured Mushinsky his parking lot is swept once a week, which removes pollution-laden sand that might wash into the river.
He also told her nothing harmful gets dumped down the storm drains.
The only thing that occasionally might get spilled is, "the good stuff," he said, laughing and gesturing to his stock of alcohol.
Owners who sign up are given a decal for their business, proclaiming them a friend of the river. They will be thanked in an advertisement.
About 25 percent of land in the lower Quinnipiac watershed is paved, leading to a lot of potential for pollution, said Mushinsky, who is also a Democratic state representative from Wallingford.
"Property managers who follow best practices ...," she said, "are able to significantly reduce runoff pollution."
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