Dry brookleads someto push for dredging, again

By STEVE COLLINS

and JACKIE MAJERUS

The Bristol Press

BRISTOL -- With the summer drought drying up Copper Mine Brook, some local officials and neighborhood residents say the brown trout aren't there and want the state to approve a dredging project designed to relieve flooding.

"If the brook is dry, what happened to the trout?" asked Councilman Art Ward.

Former Mayor Stretch Norton, a member of the public works board, said last week that state regulators should take a look at the stream. They'd see only dirt and stones, he said, and not a fish anywhere.

"Bring me one fish. I'll buy it," said Paul D'Aprile, who lives near the creek.

But Art Peterson, vice president of the Pequabuck River Watershed Association, said the trout haven't disappeared.

"I think they're holding their own," Peterson said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has said Copper Mine Brook is one of the better trout streams in Connecticut and isn't allowing the city to move forward with the dredging project, something Peterson's group applauds.

While much of the brook is dry, Peterson said there are places where holes are two or three feet deep -- enough water to keep the trout alive. He said he suspects some of the fish are in those tiny pools.

"As it is now," Peterson said, "I think they're going to survive."

If the drought continues, Peterson said, the fish could be in trouble.

Monday morning, spotting water anywhere in the stream proved elusive, though much of the creek is hidden behind private property. But following an afternoon deluge, the brook carried some water again -- though nowhere near its normal volume.

D'Aprile said the brook hasn't been running for weeks because of the drought. He said there are no fish at all, though some turtles remain.

But Peterson said his son and grandson were fly-fishing in the Pequabuck River by the Crowley auto dealership in Forestville last Friday and caught a coupleof good-sized trout.

They caught a 14-inch rainbow trout and a 12-inch brown trout, said Peterson, but practiced "catch and release."

"They put them back," Peterson said. "They didn't keep 'em." The Pequabuck is knee-deep or more, Peterson said, with some holes 3 or 4 feet deep. Copper Mine Brook flows into the Pequabuck near Theis Precision Steel.

City Engineer Paul Strawderman said that consultants -- Maguire Group Connecticut -- have put together some new ideas for battling the flooding. He said city personnel are figuring out the cost for each and plan to present the proposals to the street committee in August.

D'Aprile said that he hopes the city won't resort to holding ponds to capture excess rain water along the river.

"They would smell to high heaven" on hot summer days, he said, unless they are pumped out so stagnant water doesn't just sit there. The city plans to spend $1 million or more to combat flooding along the stream.

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