Safe Water Supply Extended To Greenridge Section

By Andrew Gorosko

BROOKFIELD — The Aquarion Water Company of Bridgeport has completed a project to extend a safe water supply to the Greenridge residential section of Brookfield.

The Greenridge water supply previously was contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive minerals and was considered unsafe to drink.

“Working with United Water and the towns of Brookfield and Newtown, we were able to complete all necessary construction for the project as scheduled,” Aquarion President and CEO Charles V. Firlotte said in a February 7 statement.

“We look forward to providing Greenridge customers with safe, high-quality water for many years to come,” he added.

Aquarion spokesman Bruce Silverstone said February 8 that water started flowing to Greenridge customers on February 6. 

Aquarion constructed the main waterline for the project along Route 25, extending that line from Silvermine Road southward along Route 25 to the Greenridge district. The company also constructed a pump house on Silvermine Road. The Greenridge water supply is chlorinated.

“We are delighted that we could help negotiate a solution that has been delivered to address Greenridge’s water needs and we appreciate Aquarion’s efforts in resolving this crucial situation,” Brookfield First Selectman Bill Davidson said in a statement. “Residents will now be able to enjoy clean water without any concerns,” he added.

In a decision issued last November 2, state regulators gave final approval to Aquarion’s proposal for supplying safe drinking water to the 238-home Greenridge residential development from a source within Brookfield, deciding that the Aquarion plan is a better alternative than having United Water extend its Newtown-based public water supply system to Greenridge.

In the regulatory decision, the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) and the state Department of Public Health (DPH) stated, “This determination was made in reviewing both the United and the Aquarion proposals, the risks involved with each proposal, and the benefits associated with each proposal.”

In order for Aquarion to provide water to Greenridge from a source within Brookfield, United needed to make some improvements to its community water system that serves Greenridge. United now buys water from Aquarion to serve its Greenridge customers.

The 238 homes in Greenridge house more than 900 residents, Mr Silverstone said. Five homes in the Greenridge development are in adjacent Newtown.

In April 2010, the state regulators had approved construction plans for United extending its Newtown-based water supply to Greenridge.

But after that construction started in May 2010, both Town of Newtown and Borough of Newtown officials objected, raising various issues about that project, and asking whether such a water system extension would potentially jeopardize Newtown’s future water supply needs.

The town and borough officials cautioned that a United water extension to Greenridge would be environmentally unwise because it would amount to transferring water from one watershed into another watershed, potentially depleting the Pootatuck Aquifer and the adjacent Pootatuck River.

United’s water supply is drawn from wells in the Pootatuck Aquifer off South Main Street, near Sand Hill Plaza.

Aquarion submitted its water system proposal for Greenridge to PURA/DPH last June, explaining that its acquisition of some small water companies in Brookfield would make its Greenridge water supply plans possible.