The 19th annual symposium has a theme of "Our Urban Watershed."
The Westfield River Watershed Association will once again educate the public on the watershed and how residents can help to keep it clean and healthy at the 19th annual Westfield River Symposium. The event, which takes place Saturday at Westfield State University, is free and open to the public.
This year’s theme, “Our Urban Watershed,” focuses on topics related to how Westfield and neighboring communities interact with the river.
“We’re looking at infrastructure issues,” said Michael Young, a board member for WRMA. “We’ll be looking at the water supply for the City of Springfield at Cobble Mountain Reservoir, and then we’ll be looking at waste-water treatment and storm-water management in Westfield itself.”
Thomas LeCourt of the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission will be giving a talk entitled, “West Parish Water Filtration Plant: Filtering the Water Supply for Springfield and Beyond.”
Other speakers include Martha Naley, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who will discuss the impacts of bridges and culverts on wildlife, both fish and terrestrial wildlife, moving along the stream corridors. There will also be a representative from the Columbia Greenway trail, Joe Giffune, who will give a talk entitled “The Columbia Greenway: Past, Present and Future.” The greenway is expected to extend alongside the Westfield River in Westfield within a couple of years.
The keynote address will be given by Westfield City Engineer Mark Cressotti, who will tie it all together. He will also address the system of levies in place to help prevent flooding along the river.
The late morning sessions will be led by David Billips, of the City of Westfield Water Resources Department, who will talk about maintaining river quality in difficult times, and Casey Berube, of the City of Westfield Water Resources Department, who will discuss municipal storm water management.
About a dozen exhibitors will have information on display. They include the Friends of the Columbia Greenway Trail, Friends of Robinson State Park, Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, the Springfield Naturalists’ Club, the Westfield River Wild & Scenic Advisory Committee and the Western Massachusetts Fly Fishing Association.
New this year, a regional planning class at Westfield State University is doing a semester-long project on the watershed. Students are creating informational posters to be put on display. The students have been exploring resource flow within the watershed, as well as the power of thinking and acting regionally. The students will also run an interactive mapping exercise for visitors meant to give life to the networks and interconnections within the region.
Young said the symposium is intended for anyone interested in the river and water and how it’s used. He said he hopes visitors come away learning something.
“It’s about recognizing what some of the interactions between people and the river are, and some of the ways they might be able to preserve water quality and take care of the river,” he said.
The symposium ends with two field trips available to a limited number of attendees. Buses will be leaving campus at about 1:30 p.m., headed toward the West Parish water filtration plant on Granville Road and to the wastewater treatment plant off Union Street in Westfield. There will be a sign up sheet for those interested in attending.
“It’s a chance to actually go and look at things,” Young said. “I’ve been on both of these trips and they’re both interesting.”
There will be free, light refreshments available, as well as a raffle.
The WRWA will have information about the many volunteer opportunities it has for those interested in learning more about the watershed while caring for it at the same time. One of the biggest needs for volunteers is a storm drain labeling project. The project is starting in Westfield but will continue on to Southwick and Russell.
“These are probably three-inch-diameter plastic labels to remind people that the storm drain system is completely separate from sewage drains,” he said. “The water that goes down into the storm drain goes straight into the river, so we’re encouraging people not to throw things down the storm drains.”
The WRWA also puts on a “Canoe and Kayak Day” in the spring and an open house at the fishway in West Springfield in June.
The 2013 Westfield River Symposium is sponsored by the WRWA and Westfield State University. Registration takes place from 8 to 8:30 a.m. at Scanlon Banquet Hall. For more information, visit www.westfieldriver.org.