The Coalition is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1999 with the mission to protect the quantity and quality of water within the Pomperaug River Watershed and Aquifer. Through the development and implementation of this scientifically based Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP), the Coalition will recommend management strategies that will assist local and state government agencies, water utilities and landowners with managing allocation and preventing pollution of the finite water resource in the watershed. The goal is to insure ample drinking water and irrigation, the assimilation of waste water and the ecological integrity of the river for aquatic life, recreation and aesthetics.

The flowchart in Figure 1 shows the process used by the Coalition to prepare this WRMP. The process began with the identification and collection of existing information and ongoing research describing the physical conditions in and concerns about the Pomperaug Watershed. Fortunately, a wealth of information is available on the geology of the watershed and on its historic climate conditions, surface and groundwater flows, and land and water use because of years of research conducted by the USGS, CT DEP, the University of Connecticut (UConn), Yale University and others.

Additional information is needed to understand the surface and groundwater movement throughout the watershed and to quantify the impacts of existing and future water withdrawals on streamflows and on the ecological health of the watershed and aquifer. To address that need, the Coalition is collaborating with state agencies, universities and water resource professionals to analyze research and develop computer models that will help manage this finite resource among the many demands placed on it. To understand how water enters, moves through, and leaves the watershed and its aquifer, the Coalition has partnered with the USGS (for details, see Section IV.B.1). To help understand the relationship between streamflows and the availability of fish habitat (or habitat potential), the Coalition has retained Research Associate Professor Dr. Piotr Parasiewicz of the UMass Instream Habitat Program (see Section IV.B.4). Additionally, Associate Professor Dr. Melinda Daniels of the UConn Geography Department is conducting a preliminary study of the sediment dynamics of the Pomperaug River (see Section IV.B.2).

As research results have become available and as other local and regulatory water issues and concerns have been identified in the watershed, the Coalition's staff, in consultation with the researchers and its oversight committee (see Appendix II) has evaluated the findings and reported to the Coalition's Board (see Appendix I). Working together, they have developed a list of "Action Items" (see section IV, E), which takes into consideration funding, staffing, and community support. Action Items will be evaluated regularly to insure their continued effectiveness and will be updated when necessary.

This WRMP is intended to be a LIVING document. To insure this, as more research results and other local and regulatory water issues arise, the Coalition will continue to go through the process described above and illustrated in Figure 1. This iterative process will let the Coalition identify the most appropriate, cost effective and politically achievable management strategies to insure that the watershed's water quantity and quality goals are met now and in the future.

The Coalition provides a nonregulatory forum for all stakeholders to actively understand, discuss and participate in watershed management. Its 25-member Board is diverse and representative to ensure attention to a comprehensive range of water-use, municipal, regional and environmental concerns. Through its educational, training, and outreach programs, a robust website and publications, the Coalition alone will share research information with the local communities and with state and national water management agencies and organizations.

The Pomperaug WRMP process and outcomes have been designated by the Connecticut Water Planning Council as a model for Connecticut's water-resource user community (State of Connecticut Water Planning Council Annual Report to the General Assembly and Work Plan for 2004; January 26, 2004).