Earthplace Water Testing Detectives

Sometimes everybody's happy.

Take this recent example from a Stamford Advocate photo assignment.

A local oysterman, Norm Bloom, hates it when the Long Island Sound becomes polluted, because when bacteria levels are too high, his operation is shut down until the water is safe again. Shellfish filter the water, so if the water's toxic, the shellfish are no good. It's in Bloom's best interest for the source of the problem to be located quickly, so he can get back to work. It's also in the best interest of everyone who lives near the Sound to have good water quality so they can swim and fish in it, too.

Enter the good folks at Earthplace. They're watchdogs for water quality -- they test it regularly. Many of the testers are volunteers, including enterprising high school students who do some testing as part of a senior year project. Their lab, though, is in Westport. It's a few miles from the waters they test, so they need to factor in manhours for transporting water samples.

So Bloom was putting up a new shellfish processing building on his property on the edge of the Sound. I don't know who asked who, but in any case Bloom ended up donating lab space in that building to Earthplace, so they could test the waters more easily. He even lets them use dock space for their boat.

Here's a photo I took of Dick Harris, Harbor Watch/ River Watch Director, at the new lab:



The new lab, right on the water, will enable the Earthplace team to work more quickly. As an example of what they can do, they told me that last summer they had been doing their regular testing and noticed a dramatic spike in bacteria levels.

They quickly shifted into detective mode.

What would cause such a spike? There hadn't been significant rain, so they figured it wasn't runoff. Standard seepage wouldn't cause such a big spike. There had to have been a change somewhere in one of the storm drains. Because they test so often and so regularly, they were able to quickly narrow down the general area of the source of the problem.

A check with the city's building department uncovered that some construction was going on in that area. The building department had gotten a recent call from a contractor with a question about the location of sanitary and storm drains. Aha! There must have been a mixup -- the contractor had inadvertently connected a sanitary line to the storm drain. That was it! The repair was done, the levels returned to normal, and the Sound was safe again. The detective work had taken a mere four hours.

Bloom's happy, the Earthplace scientists are happy, the student interns are happy, and the large population who lives near the Sound is happy. And of course, the shellfish are happy. Until they get eaten, I guess.

Gone Fishing

Nick Cardillo, Darien, casts his line out into Stamford Harbor from the east side of Kosciuszko Park on Friday afternoon, June 12. Cardillo grew up in Stamford and remembers when the park wasn't as inviting. Now he comes to the park frequently, often to fish. "If it's bass I like to eat them... otherwise I throw it back," he says.

Vlad the Wrestler

I've been lucky to have photographed many performers during my career, but a recent Friday night was a first -- I was assigned to cover professional wrestling.

The men on this circuit are looking to break into the big time, the WWE, and barnstorm local halls to gain a following.

One of the wrestlers is Vlad Joseph, aka Vicious. Wrestling "is really hard to do," says Vicious, who trains extensively. He cultivates a reputation in the ring as a tough guy. "Being disliked isn't enough," he says, "you have to be hated."


He told me he feels destined for wrestling somehow -- he said his mom liked to watch wrestling when she was pregnant with him, and he grew up in a family that enjoys tuning in to WWE.

Preparations backstage are serious:



This night, Vicious was happily wrestling Snyper when Jalil Patel surprised them by jumping into the ring. Patel dispatched Snyper quickly, then turned his attention to Vicious, launching him airborne:


When the dust settled, Patel's surprise entry forced the refs to nullify the match. Later, Vicious signed autographs for some loyal fans.


All in a night's work.

Summer's Here!

The Memorial Day parade kicks off my favorite season...