Our Projects

River Advocates carries out projects with the support of our partners, including the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Women's Seamen's Friends Society, CT Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound, Wallingford Youth and Social Services, Sound School, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, West River Watershed Coalition and Mill River Watershed Association.

Project 1. Strengthen Municipal Regulations

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River Advocates is training 6 citizen advocates in targeted municipalities to ask local officials to upgrade their regulations affecting water. Better regulations reduce polluted runoff from streets and landscapes, the source of nitrogen, phosphorus and bacteria pollution that affects our urban rivers.

Target municipalities are: North Haven, Wallingford, Southington, Meriden, Cheshire and Plainville.

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We will train you!

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Project 2. Citizen Science: Streamflow Photos

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Streams and rivers are losing water at certain times of the year due to land development, deforestation, pumping or diversion of water and climate change. Citizen scientists (like you!) can help document these changes so we can improve streamflow for aquatic life, fishing and river recreation.

All you need is your cell phone or camera and your commitment to photograph your chosen stream once a month for a year. Click here for instructions and a list of stream crossings we are interested in monitoring. 

Project 3. River Monitoring 

Project 4. Harbor Monitoring 

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Damage to area rivers and harbors may come from bacteria, too much nitrogen and phosphorus, low oxygen or water diversions. River Advocates is conducting two monitoring projects: bacteria in greater New Haven rivers; and water quality in New Haven Harbor. For rivers to recover from "impaired" status, water quality must improve and fresh water must keep flowing, especially during hot and dry times of the year.

River Advocates has begun harbor monitoring with our crew and scientists from Yale's Department of Geology and Geophysics. We are part of the Unified Water Study: Long Island Sound Embayment Research.

River Advocates is using volunteers for bacteria monitoring who will collect samples in 3 area rivers. A lab will analyze our samples.

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