Storm Trash

Morning brings a pair of thunderstorms that dump three quarters of an inch of rain. Afterwards, although the sky is a thick overcast and more rain is possible, the weatherman's radar shows that thunder is over for the time being. 

I put in from O'Sullivan's Island near the upper end of the tidal section of the big river. Here, the river is somewhat enclosed in a deep enough valley to give me some protection just in case the weatherman's radar missed something. The tip of O'Sullivan's is also the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers.

As I paddle downriver, it is impossible to ignore the amount of floating plastic trash. The last time I saw this was also just after a storm that flushed the rivers. And, just like the first time, all of the plastic is coming out of the Naugatuck. The Housatonic is clear and not one single floater is visible, but the Naugatuck has dozens and dozens of trash items in near view. Note that this does seem to be a high water/storm related phenomena, so somewhere, trash is getting flushed.

The two rivers are quite different. The Housatonic doesn't pass through any large cities and I suppose that most of it's surroundings are either forest or farmland. The Naugatuck runs through a deep and rather scenic valley. And, it runs through series of old milltowns and one large and somewhat dilapidated city. It also has a major state highway sharing the bottom of the valley. I can paddle the majority of the Housatonic, but the Naugatuck is a different matter. The Naugatuck is shallow, fast, rocky. It's one of those rivers that when it is safe to paddle, it's too shallow to, and when it's full of water, it's a torrent. And. that is without considering that it just doesn't have many places to access it.

I would not be surprised if something like 90 percent of the plastic debris in this lowest section of the Housatonic comes directly out of the Naugatuck.

I paddle down to Wooster Island - an hour out, and return. I fill up the bow of my canoe with trash. It would have not, at all, been difficult to fill the entire canoe up to the gunwhales.