Betsy Yagla Photo

Mary Mushinsky

Wearing snorkeling gear and a life vest, Mary Mushinsky floated by schools of fish and cool rock formations in the clear water.

She was swimming in the Quinnipiac River, near Meriden, during a dry period this summer — it hadn't rained for 12 days.

"It was really beautiful," she says, adding that the water was so clear she could see to the bottom.

By contrast, after a rainy day the water is murky and "loaded with bacteria," she says. "I'd never step in it in those conditions."

Mushinsky is trying to change that.

A state Representative from Wallingford, Mushinsky heads the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association (QRWA) and her personal goal is to make the river swimmable again.

The river has improved over the last few decades because traditional pollutants, like those from manufacturing, have disappeared and the state has tightened its regulations on sewage treatment plants.

Mushinsky points to the pair of bald eagles that nested in North Haven in 2007 and this year's 34 exclusively fish-eating osprey fledglings, also in North Haven, as proof of the river's improved health.

Now the most common and preventable contaminants in the water — nitrogen and bacteria — come from cities and suburbs.

Runoff from the landscape, whether it's a well-kept lawn or a parking lot, is "the river's biggest unsolved problem," Mushinsky says.

That's why she was in a North Haven shopping plaza on Universal Drive last week talking to managers at chain stores like Barnes & Noble, Dollar Tree and Bernie's about how to be a "friend of the river."

Friends, she explains, don't leave Dumpster lids open, and they sweep their parking lots at least twice a year.

Parking lots, especially those close to the river, are harmful because rainwater pushes the lot's pollutants, like motor oil, into storm drains that empty into the river.

Similarly, homeowners are asked to wash their cars in their lawn instead of the street, so that sudsy water doesn't end up in the river.

Over the last year, Mushinsky and a few other QRWA members have signed up 161 homeowners and 100 businesses as friends of the river after they agreed to follow six "best management practices to reduce water pollution."

The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection have shifted their energies from point-source pollution, like sewage treatment plants, to non-point source pollution, like stormwater runoff, says Jessica Morgan the DEP's low-impact development coordinator.

Non point-source pollution is tougher to regulate, so the EPA and DEP are focusing on "social marketing." One way they're doing that is by funding projects like Mushinsky's.

"You need to get people to understand the problem and care enough to change their behavior," says Morgan.

As Mushinsky's learned, most homeowners and business owners are unaware of how their actions affect the river.

"It's our job to open their eyes," Mushinsky says.

It's an easy job, she adds, since most people do want to help the river. Store owners have told her about watching the river's wildlife; one even reported seeing a bald eagle steal a fish from an osprey.

The high-pitched chi-chi-chi of a king fisher behind Toys R Us in North Haven draws Mushinsky's attention.

The small blue-gray bird with a mohawk is a fish eater, and Mushinsky, standing in a parking lot, is excited to see it. But she worries the overflowing, open-lid Dumpster behind her could be a source of pollution — rain water could pick up and carry toxins from the trash to the stormwater drain a few feet from the river.

That, in turn, could hurt the fish the king fisher eats.

Although this scene is an example of how suburbia affects the Quinnipiac, it's not uncommon. The river flows from Plainville to New Haven and empties into Long Island Sound. The lower part of the river, where Mushinsky has concentrated her efforts, is 25 percent paved.

"You can see why this is an uphill battle," she says.

Some homeowners "wonder why I bother," says Mushinsky. "They tell me that it's industry's fault, but really it's suburbia. Just look at all this pavement," she says while standing in a parking lot just steps away from the river.