Friday, May 31, 2019
www.northhavencitizen.com
Volume 12, Number 10
Researchers are testing the waters at treatment plants By Bailey Wright The Citizen
Holocaust survivor Judith Altmann gifts a piece of brick she saved from her time at the Auschwitz concentration camp to North Haven Middle School student Hunter Pageau after speaking to eighth-grade students on Friday, May 24. Bailey Wright, The Citizen
Holocaust survivor speaks to North Haven students By Bailey Wright The Citizen
A Holocaust survivor brought history to life Friday morning, May 24 for almost 300 eighth grade students who heard her firsthand account of the 1940s genocide. Judith Altmann, of Stamford and originally from Czechoslovakia, shared her story with the students in hopes that they would understand what hate and discrimination can do, especially when people blindly follow power. “It is unbelievable, in the 20th Century, in a country like Germany with a high intellect, that these things can happen. That’s why, for me, it is so important to educate
Most people are familiar with the ever-growing number of macroplastics found in the world’s waters, more commonly known as plastic bags, bot- The microbeads can absorb chemicals and other tles and straws. toxins and end up hurting But Southern Connecticut wildlife. State University re“The microplastics are a searchers have turned particular problem for their attention to a lesser people as well because we known problem — mieat the seafood … and croplastics. some of these things are Microplastics and minot safe to eat,” said State crobeads are small pieces Rep. Mary Mushinsky, Dof plastic and fibers comWallingford, who is on the monly found in cosmetic legislature’s Environment and facial products, tooth- Committee. The legislapaste and clothing — esture has since created a pecially polyester and Microfiber Pollution Workfleece. ing Group with the Department of Energy and Professor of science education and environmental Environmental Protection and is considering plastic studies Vincent Breslin and graduate student An- bag bans. thony Vignola have begun testing the water from North Haven and Meriden’s treatment plants to see how much plastic makes its way through them and into Long Island Sound via the Quinnipiac River.
Holocaust survivor Judith Altmann speaks to North Haven Middle School eighth-graders on Friday, May 24. Bailey Wright, The Citizen
and talk to young people like you; because they were also young people, Hitler focused very much on the youth, that was his most important thing,” Altmann said.
About 6 million people died in the Holocaust, including 1.5 million children. Altmann was 14 years old when her democratic counSee Altmann, A5
The ban, now in place, arose from suspicion that the small pieces of plastic were being eaten by various marine organisms, including fish, in Long Island Sound.
The two took their first sample at the North Haven Water Pollution Control Facility on Universal Drive this month. Breslin has been studying microplastics since the state legislature first considered banning them from certain products in 2015.
Over the last few years, Breslin has studied the prevalence of microbeads in our coastal waters, testing areas like New Haven and Mystic harbors. Since the ban, Breslin said the presence of microbeads has declined, but is not gone entirely. Now he’s expanding those studies to look at the sources that allow the microplastics to get into bigger bodies of water. “There's been some studies that do show that a lot of wastewater treatment plants are pretty effective See Microplastics, A7