Advancing Water Quality through Collaborative Planning: Developing the Clean Waters and Healthy Watersheds Goal

In this article, Kelly Streich describes the development of the Clean Waters and Healthy Watershed Goal for the 2025 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. Streich, an environmental analyst with the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), served in 2023 and 2024 as a co-lead in developing the goal.

On a crisp February morning in 2023, a small but determined group came together to tackle a big task: to develop the Clean Waters and Healthy Watersheds goal section in the Long Island Sound Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan – a living blueprint for the future of the Urban Sea. This living blueprint would guide the actions of the Long Island Sound Partnership for the next ten years. The Partnership’s Management Committee approved the task in late 2022, and under their direction a revision oversight committee was formed. This committee provided recommendations for writing teams which promoted consistency across the CCMP goals. Evaluations of ecosystem targets and progress on the 2020 action items were also provided. These materials served as background for the writing team to consider and as catalysts to aid in formulating the next steps for the Clean Waters and Healthy Watershed goal.

Our writing team consisted of sixteen professionals from academia, state and federal governments, non-profit organizations, and interstate commissions. Each member brought a unique and representative perspective to our team which contributed to a more holistic approach to addressing the ecosystem health of Long Island Sound and its watershed. Over the course of seven months, we met every other week and worked through a logical process to develop a focused vision for the Clean Waters and Healthy Watershed goal. Between team meetings, four writing team leads worked to summarize meeting notes, complete action items, and prepare for the next full team meeting (in other words – these four individuals kept the ball rolling!).

The Clean Waters and Healthy Watersheds goal statement was the topic of our first meeting where we worked to develop and refine this statement. Next, we selected and prioritized the major objectives. We started with three broad categories (Nutrients, Bacteria, Emerging Contaminations). Discussion to ensure that all pressing issues will be represented and addressed resulted in name changes, splitting of one category, and the addition of a new category. The final categories are Nutrients, Watershed Health, Pathogens, Toxic Contaminants, Marine Debris. The new category, Watershed Health is improved by a combination of actions, from land protection to stormwater management and treatments applied to developed land for the purpose of water quality. Our writing team agreed that this objective is important enough to call out. We voted on all five categories and prioritized them as follows: Nutrients, Watershed Health, Pathogens, Toxic Contaminants, and Marine Debris. With that settled, it was time to prepare technical explanations, measures of success, and statements for each objective. We also worked each objective through the SMART process. This process is a goal-setting framework that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It helps with defining clear and effective goals and increases the likelihood of success, which in our case is to “Restore and Maintain Water Quality in Long Island Sound and its Watershed.” The approach required a more detailed lens which the expertise of our team contributed greatly to thus ensuring that our goal will be met. 

Moving on to preparation of the action items. The 2020 CCMP included 40 action items, and our writing team was tasked with preparing no more than 15 action items. We are proud to report that we came in under the target with a total of 14 actions!  The specifics of each action were prepared by our writing team in terms of the description, partners, funding sources and needs, and performance measures to support success in achieving the goal.

In addition to developing scientific and technical support for the Clean Waters and Health Watersheds goal, our writing team also considered clarity and significance to people throughout the watershed. We wanted to craft a triple-E plan (enlightening, encouraging, and engaging). Preparation of this living blueprint for the urban sea also included outreach events and a public comment period to hear from people all around the Long Island Sound watershed. Additionally, a website was made available for people to provide their concerns and thoughts. The writing team considered all input that was provided when preparing the living blueprint. We also reviewed all public draft comments and made changes to the draft document where appropriate. This inclusive process incorporates local concerns and works to find solutions that support the water quality goal for Long Island Sound and its watershed. 

The Clean Waters and Healthy Watersheds goal is on page 14 of the CCMP.

Streich is CT DEEP’s technical support lead for the LIS Partnership’s goal to reduce nutrients delivered to Long Island Sound under the Total Maximum Daily Load Plan and Second-Generation Nitrogen Strategy. She has worked on LIS Partnership activities for CT DEEP since 2008.