How to Save Long Island Sound

In the effort to keep Long Island Sound from dying, this is the standard by which all others will be judged. From the Stamford Advocate:

The upgrade expanded the 1974 plant's treatment capacity from an average of 17 million gallons per day to 24 million gallons per day and a maximum peak flow capacity of 68 million gallons per day.

The plant now removes 90 percent of nitrogen, which significantly reduces the amount of oxygen crucial to fish and other aquatic life, from the treated sewage before it is discharged into Long Island Sound. Before the upgrade, treatment removed 65 percent….

"It actually meets a standard agreed to by New York, Connecticut and the EPA that doesn't need to be in place until 2014," McCarthy said of the new plant.

Because Stamford's plant exceeds nitrogen reduction standards, the city gets cash payments as part of a state program allowing other cities that don't meet the standards to buy credits from those that do. When the new plant's nitrogen reduction is calculated next year, Stamford will likely become the highest seller of nitrogen credits in the state, said Brian Gackstatter of CH2M Hill, the engineering firm overseeing the project.

Jeanette Brown, director of the Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority, deserves most if not all of the credit, although I know she'd demur.