Logan Dinkins, Contributing Photographer

A Quinnipiac University professor is leading a new team of students, researchers and volunteers to reduce pollution in the Quinnipiac River through water monitoring and trash removal.

The Quinnipiac River, which empties into the Long Island Sound in New Haven, was once one of Connecticut’s most polluted rivers. Years of contamination from nearby wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities have taken a large toll on the river’s water quality and surrounding ecosystem. 

The Quinnipiac University team, led by professor Courtney McGinnis, is hoping to change that.

“We think about its utilization as a recreational water source, its utilization for our marine organisms, and the terrestrial animals that use it as a drinking water source,” McGinnis said. “It’s really important that we protect this space and make sure that it’s clean.”

Since 2015, McGinnis and her team have investigated pollution in the river using an analytical technique called gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify chemical presence in collected water samples. Over the years, they have focused on endocrine disrupting components, such as bisphenol A, or BPA, which interferes with hormone systems in wildlife. They have also discovered a significant amount of hydrocarbons in the river.

“These can come from non-specific sources, like runoff from roads and motor oil and other sort of oily materials that make their way into the river,” McGinnis said.

Around four years ago, McGinnis started noticing large amounts of garbage littered along the banks of the Quinnipiac River in a forested area behind the extension of Valley Service Road in North Haven.

“While I’ve always been sampling in the river, I started asking myself, what are ways that we can prevent this nonspecific runoff in the river?” McGinnis said.

Nonpoint source pollution — like runoffs — refers to water pollution that does not come from a single, identifiable source. McGinnis said such pollution is especially common after extreme rain events, when the ground cannot saturate the rainwater as quickly, allowing water to pick up pollutants and wash into the river.

“If there’s trash on the banks of the river, then it’s more likely to push that into the river as well,” she said.

In the spring of 2024, McGinnis started enlisting volunteers from the North Haven area and students from the Hopkins School to help in community trash cleanup events. Gabriel Mena ’28 was a student at Hopkins when he took part in the clean-ups as part of his senior service week.

“We were given free rein to go into the trails, find trash and pick it up,” Mena said. “I remember it being in a pretty awful state.”

Mena and McGinnis each recalled finding garbage bags filled with household trash, construction waste, tires, couches, vanities, leather chairs and even mattresses. While the cleanups efforts were efficient and successful, McGinnis said that it can be disheartening to see new garbage emerge along the bank afterwards.

“We’re sort of up against that battle of, we’re doing good work and it’s important work; it’s better for the health of the river,” McGinnis said, “but people are still dumping.”

Still, the total amount of garbage appeared to reduce over time. McGinnis also noticed that new dumping sites emerged in areas that were not targeted by the clean-ups — areas that they cleaned, on the other hand, stopped having garbage.

“I think if you see trash, you’re more likely to dump trash,” McGinnis said. “And when you don’t see trash, maybe you think, ‘Oh, this is a beautiful forest, right? This is not a place where I want to discard my waste.’”

McGinnis’ efforts are supported by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven’s Quinnipiac River Fund, which supports research, public education, restoration and advocacy efforts to improve the environment quality of the river.

“The Quinnipiac river is an ecological treasure,” Christina Ciociola, the foundation’s senior vice president for planning and community strategies, said.

“It’s true that the water quality has rebounded in recent decades as a result of the Quinnipiac River Fund and the work,” she added. “But there are many sections of the river that still suffer from long term history of pollution. The focus is to get the entire river cleaned for the benefit of the future generations.”

Over the past few years, McGinnis said her team has only consistently identified hydrocarbons, most likely from surface runoffs, in the water samples. Other chemicals, such as BPA, have significantly decreased over time.

“But that doesn’t mean that we should necessarily stop monitoring,” McGinnis said.

There are still companies with permits to discharge water into the river, as well as treatment plants responsible for periodic disinfections. Continuous monitoring, she said, is crucial for early detection in case water quality does not meet the standards.

“It can start to tell us if something is wrong,” McGinnis said. “If we stop monitoring, we don’t know until there’s a really negative impact.”

The Quinnipiac River flows into New Haven Harbor east of downtown New Haven.