Kudos to Judy Benson and The Day for the recently published series on the Pawcatuck River and Save the Bay’s challenge to Westerly and Stonington to improve the water quality in the lower Pawcatuck River and Little Narragansett Bay. 

Unfortunately, in Stonington, the people making the decisions are not very conservation-minded. If a project doesn’t add to the tax base or if it will cause an increase in the budget it won’t be considered. 

Our stormwater task force hasn’t met in years, the Pawcatuck River Harbor Commission only met twice in 2014, there is no line item in the budget to fund the acquisition of open space and the town has yet to hire a director of planning or a grant writer. One way to get a larger discount on the flood insurance is to preserve open space in the flood plain. 

There exist significant grant funding opportunities to shoreline towns from Long Island Sound Futures Fund and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help pay for improvement projects. Something as simple as converting standard storm drains to tree-filter boxes could be paid for, at least in part, by these funds. 

It is past time for Stonington to step up and take care of our portion of the Sound.

Richard Newton

Mystic