Cooler evenings during the last 30 days have resulted in improved water quality at all harbors monitored by East Norwalk Blue (ENB). Water temperatures versus last year are one to two degrees colder than what was observed for the same period in 2016. While not a major change in temperature, the corresponding increase in dissolved oxygen levels has been dramatic with observed values as high as 10 ppm in the northern (landward) end in some of the estuaries monitored by ENB. For comparison, the CT DEEP guidelines are no less than 5 ppm. Even the highly stressed waters at the northern end of Norwalk Harbor are recovering to levels that will support fish by the end of September. All of this means better life support for the large schools of bunker moving upstream to the headwaters as they do in late summer and early fall. In short, chances of a major fish kill along our coast in September have all but disappeared for 2017.
–Dick Harris