Quinnipiac River

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Quinnipiac River,
Dragon River, East River, New Haven River
View of the Quinnipiac River from the 'Red Bridge' in Meriden to the west

View of the Quinnipiac River from the 'Red Bridge' in Meriden to the west

Data
Water code US :  CT
location Connecticut (USA)
source Deadwood Swamp , New Britain (Connecticut)
41 ° 41 ′ 42 "  N , 72 ° 48 ′ 55"  W.
Source height 102  m
muzzle at New Haven in the Long Island Sound Coordinates: 41 ° 17 ′ 58 ″  N , 72 ° 54 ′ 14 ″  W 41 ° 17 ′ 58 ″  N , 72 ° 54 ′ 14 ″  W
Mouth height 0  m
Height difference 102 m
Bottom slope 1.4 ‰
length 73 km
Catchment area 430 km²
Right tributaries Mill River, West River
Reservoirs flowed through Community Lake, Wallingford
Medium-sized cities Plainville , Southington , Cheshire , Wallingford , New Haven
Quinnipiac River catchment area.

The Quinnipiac River is a Connecticut river that is 45 miles long.

history

Bridge at Wallingford, 1907

The name of the river comes from the Algonquin phrase for "long water-land" and was originally referred to the river in the area of ​​its mouth. Europeans reached the river in 1614. At the beginning of the 18th century, the first settlers named the river Dragon River after the name of the seals , which were then called “sea dragons”. In the 18th century they were obviously very numerous in the area.

geography

Catchment area and course

The Quinnipiac River drains an area of ​​approximately 430 km². It is produced in Central Connecticut in Deadwood Swamp , west of the city of New Britain and runs on the whole south through the territories of the cities Plainville , Southington and Cheshire he followed west of Meriden continues to flow, Wallingford and Yalesville and North Haven , crosses and flows into a bay of Long Island Sound in New Haven , a little east of the city center, where the Mill River still flows into it. Also in the New Haven area is the uninhabited Grannis Island . In Wallingford, the Quinnipiac is dammed up to form Community Lake . There are four dams, most of which are old holdings that prevent shipping. The first dam is located about half a mile south of Plantsville , the second dam is on the southeast end of Hanover Pond in South Meriden, the third is in northeast Yalesville, and the fourth is on the south end of Community Lake in Wallingford. Paddling is one of the most popular leisure activities on the river. The most popular route is in the North Haven estuary . The influence of the tides affects up to 23 km inland.

bridges

Several major traffic arteries cross the Quinnipiac River. The following bridges are worth mentioning: Tomlinson Bridge ( US Route 1 ); Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge ( Interstate 95 ); Ferry Street Bridge (Quinnipiac); Grand Avenue Bridge; I-91 Bridge ( Interstate 91 ); Middletown Avenue Bridge; There are only insignificant small bridges north of the Middletown Avenue Bridge.

Ecology and environmental protection

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the river suffered from severe pollution, as various heavy industry companies were located in its catchment area and sewage from large cities was discharged untreated. The Quinnipiac became the first Connecticut river to be polluted. In 1886 the Connecticut General Assembly issued a rule prohibiting the city of Meriden from discharging untreated sewage into the river. In 1891 the first state sewage treatment plant was built.

Even so, the State Board of Health reported in 1914 that most of the fish in the estuary had disappeared. Pollution eased somewhat with the implementation of the Connecticut Clean Water Act of 1967 and the Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, which gave authorities the authority to keep the river's drainage area clean. The measures included the construction of modern waste disposal systems for sewage and industrial waste. Readings for copper in the river have decreased 70% since the 1980s and are now comparable to other rivers in Connecticut. However, the sewage of the city of New Haven remains a major problem for the ecology of the estuary to this day.

leisure

In addition to paddling, hiking along the Quinnipiac is a popular leisure activity. The Quinnipiac Trail runs along the west bank of the Quinnipiac River State Park in North Haven .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hughes, Arthur and Morse S. All: Connecticut Place Names. The Connecticut Historical Society Hartford, Connecticut 1976. p. 364
  2. ^ US Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map , accessed April 1, 2011
  3. ↑ a b The Quinnipiac River. Quinnipiac River Fund, accessed February 8, 2015 .
  4. ↑ State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, A Total Maximum Daily Load Analysis for the Quinnipiac River Regional Basin ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ct.gov archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 4, 2008

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