The Department of Environmental Protection, established in 1971, is responsible for protecting natural resources and controlling water, air, and land pollution.
Its fiscal 1997 estimated expenditures for all programs from all sources will be approximately $90,400,000. State funds of $37,500,000 total less than 1% of the overall state budget.
Since the Connecticut Clean Water Act was passed in 1967, upgrading of sewage treatment plants, correction of combined sewer overflows, and improved treatment, at and sewage treatment tie-ins, by industrial facilities have resulted in significant water quality improvement in many state rivers. In 1997, about 75% of the state's 900 mi (1,448 km) of major streams meet federal "swimmable-fishable" standards. The Connecticut Clean Water Fund was created in 1986 to provide grants and low interest loans to municipalities to finance more than $1 billion in municipal sewerage infrastructure improvements over 20 years. Connecticut was the first state in the country to adopt, in 1980, a comprehensive statewide groundwater quality management system.
In 1994 the governors of Connecticut and New York formally adopted a comprehensive plan to manage Long Island Sound, an "estuary of national significance."
The Tidal Wetlands Act (1969) and the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act (1972) put the state in the forefront in wetland protection. In 1997 the DEP estimates permitted tidal wetland losses at less than one acre per year and inland wetland losses at about 630 acres per year. Two thousand or more acres of wetlands and watercourses have been restored.
For five of six criteria for air pollutants (lead, carbon monoxide, particulates, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide), Connecticut has virtually eliminated violations of health-based federal standards, and levels of these pollutants continue to decrease. The state exceeds the national standard for ozone but has reduced the number of days the standard is exceeded each year by 60% since the early 1970s. Vehicle-related emissions of ozone precursors have been reduced by almost 50%, and the state is working closely with other northeastern and mid-Atlantic states on regional ozone reduction.
In 1986 the state adopted a hazardous air pollutant regulation that covers over 850 substances. Permitting and enforcement processes and voluntary reductions have resulted in at least a 68% reduction in toxins emitted to the air.
In 1987 Connecticut adopted statewide mandatory recycling. As of 1997 the state has achieved a recycling rate of 23%, with its goal 40% recycling by the year 2000.
Since 1986, five regional resource recovery facilities have begun operation, while dozens of landfills closed as they became full or federal regulations prohibited continued operation. The combination of resource recovery, recycling, and reduction of waste by consumers has resulted in landfilled garbage declining from 1,400 pounds per capita in 1986 to about 300 in 1996. In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency's database listed 424 hazardous waste sites, 15 of which were on the National Priorities List, in Connecticut.
Connecticut DEP has been a pioneer in efforts to restore anadromous fish runs and extirpated species such as wild turkeys and fishers and to document and preserve habitats for numerous plant and animal species. In 2001, Connecticut received $49,969,000 in federal grants from the EPA; EPA expenditures for procurement contracts in Connecticut that year amounted to $1,711,000.