Waterford resident Fred Grimsey was honored last month by the Aquarion Water Company for his work cleaning up the Niantic River and Bay.

Grimsey is the founder of Save the River-Save the Hills, an environmental non-profit that advocates for protection of the Oswegatchie Hills and Niantic River Watershed. He was named an Aquarion Environmental Champion at a ceremony at Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport on June 3.

Grimsley helped bring marine sewage pump-out services to southeastern Connecticut and pushed to make all of Long Island Sound a no-discarge zone for raw sewage. In the last few years, Grismey started tracking bacteria levels in the Niantic River following rainstorms, testing the idea that inadequate septic systems and pollution runoff were making the river unsuitable for swimming.

This year, he and volunteers with STR-STH will be working with the Connecticut Fund for the Environment and Save the Sound’s Unified Water Study to test water quality along Long Island Sound to track the impact of nitrogen pollution and water treatment improvements.

For more information about STR-STH and the Unified Water Study, visit www.ctenvironment.org/oswegatchie and www.ctenvironment.org/uws.