Surface Water means the waters of Long Island Sound, its harbors, embayments, tidal wetlands and creeks; rivers and streams, brooks, waterways, lakes, ponds, marshes, swamps, bogs, federal jurisdictional wetlands, and other natural or artificial, public or private, vernal or intermittent bodies of water, excluding groundwater. The surface waters includes the coastal waters as defined by Section 22a-93 of the Connecticut General Statutes and means those waters of Long Island Sound and its harbors, embayments, tidal rivers, streams and creeks, which contain a salinity concentration of at least five hundred parts per million under the low flow stream conditions as established by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. The Surface Water Quality Classes are AA, A, B, SA and SB. All surface waters not otherwise classified are considered as Class A if they are in Class GA Ground Water Quality Classifications areas. Class AA designated uses are: existing or proposed drinking water, fish and wildlife habitat, recreational use (maybe restricted), agricultural and industrial supply. Class A designated uses are: potential drinking water, fish and wildlife habitat, recreational use, agricultural and industrial supply. Class B designated uses are: fish and wildlife habitat, recreational use, agricultural and industrial supply and other legitimate uses including navigation. Class B* surface water is a subset of Class B waters and is identical in all ways to the designated uses, criteria and standards for Class B waters except for the restriction on direct discharges. Coastal water and marine classifications are SA and SB. Class SA designated uses are: marine fish, shellfish and wildlife habitat, shellfish harvesting for direct human consumption, recreation and other legitimate uses including navigation. Class SB designated uses are: marine fish, shellfish and wildlife habitat, shellfish harvesting for transfer to approved areas for purification prior to human consumption, recreation and other legitimate uses including navigation.
There are three elements that make up the Water Quality Standards which is an important element in Connecticut's clean water program. The first of these is the Standards themselves. The Standards set an overall policy for management of water quality in accordance with the directive of Section 22a-426 of the Connecticut General Statutes. The policies can be simply summarized by saying that the Department of Environmental Protection shall: Protect surface and ground waters from degradation, Segregate waters used for drinking from those that play a role in waste assimilation, Restore surface waters that have been used for waste assimilation to conditions suitable for fishing and swimming, Restore degraded ground water to protect existing and designated uses, Provide a framework for establishing priorities for pollution abatement and State funding for clean up, Adopt standards that promote the State's economy in harmony with the environment. The second element is the Criteria, the descriptive and numerical standards th
Connecticut Surficial Materials is a 1:24,000-scale, polygon and line feature-based layer describing the unconsolidated glacial and postglacial deposits of Connecticut in terms of their grain-size distribution (texture) as compiled at 1:24,000 scale for the Surficial Materials Map of Connecticut. Glacial meltwater deposits (stratified deposits) are particularly emphasized because these sediments are the major groundwater aquifers in the State and are also the major source of construction aggregate. These deposits are described in terms of their subsurface distribution of textures as well as their extent. The texture of meltwater deposits through their total vertical thickness in the subsurface is shown to the extent that it is known or can be inferred. In some places only one textural unit (such as SG - Sand and Gravel) describes the whole vertical extent of the meltwater deposits; in other places 'stacked units' (such as SG/S/F - Sand and Gravel overlying Sand overlying Fines) indicate changes of textural units in the subsurface. Polygon features represent individual textural (surficial material) units with attributes that describe textural unit type and size. Examples of polygon features that are postglacial deposits include floodplain alluvium, swamp deposits, salt-marsh and estuarine deposits, talus, coastal beach and dune deposits, and artificial fill. Examples of glacial ice-laid deposits include till, thin till, thick till and end moraine deposits. Examples of glacial melt-water deposits include gravel, sand and gravel, sand, and very fine sand, silt and clay. Additional polygon features are incorporated to define surface water areas for streams, lakes, ponds, bays, and estuaries greater than 5 acres in size. Line features describe the type of boundary between individual textural units such as a geologic contact line between two different textural units or a linear shoreline feature between a textural unit and an adjacent waterbody. Data is compiled at 1:24,000 scale and is not updated.
This information should be displayed and analyzed at scales appropriate for 1:24,000-scale data. The State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection (CTDEP) assembled this regional data layer using data from other states in order to create a single, seamless representation of political boundaries within the vicinity of Connecticut that could be easily incorporated into mapping applications as background information. More accurate and up-to-date information may be available from individual State government Geographic Information System (GIS) offices. Not intended for maps printed at map scales greater or more detailed than 1:24,000 scale (1 inch = 2,000 feet.)
Environmental Justice Block Groups 2022 was created from
Connecticut block group boundary data located in the Census Bureau's 2020
TIGER/Line Shapefiles. The poverty data used to determine which block groups
qualified as EJ communities (see CT State statute 22a-20a) was based on the
Census Bureau's 2020 ACS 5-year estimate. This poverty data was joined with the
block group boundaries in ArcPro. Block groups in which the percent of the
population below 200% of the federal poverty level was greater than or equal to
30.0 were selected and the resulting selection was exported as a new shapefile.
The block groups were then clipped so that only those block groups outside of
distressed municipalities were displayed. Maintenance – This layer will be
updated annually and will coincide with the annual distressed municipalities
update (around August/September). The latest ACS 5-year estimate data should be
used to update this layer. Environmental Justice Distressed Municipalities 2020
was created from Connecticut town boundary data located in the Census Bureau's
2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles (County Subdivisions).
From this shapefile, "select by attribute" was used to
select the distressed municipalities by town name (note: the list of 2022
distressed municipalities was provided by the CT Department of Economic and
Community Development). The selection was then exported a new shapefile. The
“Union” tool was used to unite the new shapefile with tribal lands (American
Indian Area Geography) boundary data from the 2020 TIGER/Line files. In the
resulting layer, the tribal lands were deleted so only the distressed
municipalities remained. Maintenance – This layer will be updated annually when
the DECD produces its new list of distressed municipalities (around
August/September).
Note: A distressed municipality, as designated by the
Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, includes
municipalities that no longer meet the threshold requirements but are still in
a 5-year grace period. (See definition at CGS Sec. 32-9p(b).) Fitting into that
grace period, eight towns continue to be eligible for distressed municipality
benefits because they dropped off the list within the last five years. Those
are Enfield, Killingly, Naugatuck, Plymouth, New Haven, Preston, Stratford, and
Voluntown.