team photo

Figure 1
project photo

Environmental Engineering
Team 4

Team Members

Faculty Advisor

Andrew Berman
Justin Carrubba
Zoe Demitrack
Jonathan Gareau

Manish Roy

Sponsor

Town of Wethersfield

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The General Permit for the Discharge of Stormwater from Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems, otherwise known as the MS4 Permit, is the result of a USEPA mandate meant to reduce the amount of pollution discharged to a state’s surface waters and wetlands. The goal of this Senior Design project was to assist the town of Wethersfield, Connecticut in its efforts to attain compliance with the new stormwater standards. According to previous stormwater research carried out in Wethersfield, the town’s only impaired waterway is the Connecticut River. This project focused on the investigation of the stormwater discharge site contributing the most pollution to the Connecticut River in Wethersfield. This location is contributing much higher than acceptable levels of Enterococci/E. coli bacteria. Investigation and further sampling of this site carried out by the senior design team determined that the source of this contamination was system connectivity and proximity with the domestic and industrial sewer in residential areas and interconnections with Hartford’s stormwater system. A Best Management Practice (BMP) program was developed for this site to reduce the Enterococci/E. coli outfall concentration to a level in compliance with the new MS4 guidelines. This BMP included maintenance of the adjacent sewer lines and public educational outreach.