Members of the Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) have held a brief public hearing on some proposed changes to the town’s Water Pollution Control Plan.

The February 7 session, however, did not achieve a quorum of the WSA’s membership, with only three of its seven members attending the hearing. Thus, the WSA was not able to act on the proposed pollution plan revisions at a WSA meeting which followed the public hearing.

Fred Hurley, town public works director, said February 19, the WSA is expected to act on the matter at its March 14 meeting.

At the hearing, WSA members received a statement written by resident Peter Alagna. For many years, Mr Alagna was chairman of the WSA, when it was known as the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA). He resigned from the WPCA in 1997, after the central sanitary sewer system was constructed.

In his lengthy statement, Mr Alagna writes, in part, that local weather patterns will continue changing significantly during the coming decade due to climate change, which can result in severe drought and cause a water supply crisis. Local water is drawn from underground sources. With the coming of climate change, the town, for the sake of its self-preservation and sustainability, must stop allowing multifamily housing and cluster-style housing, and allow only single-family housing, according to Mr Alagna.

The basic proposed changes to the pollution control plan involve the document being more general, rather than specific, about the amount of sewage treatment capacity the town is using and the amount of treatment capacity remaining at the central sewage treatment plant.

In November, in response to criticism that was leveled at the WSA over the proposed plan revisions, Mr Hurley explained why the WSA’s reasoning is sound and its revised plan makes sense.

In October, attorney Timothy Hollister, a lawyer who formerly represented land development firm 79 Church Hill Road LLC, had raised legal issues over the proposed revisions to the plan. The developer has had a lawsuit pending against the WSA since August concerning the developer’s controversial proposed Hunters Ridge rental apartment complex.

Notably, the law firm at which Mr Hollister works, known as Shipman & Goodwin, is withdrawing as the developer’s attorney. That move follows First Selectman Dan Rosenthal’s criticism of the firm for both representing 79 Church Hill Road LLC, which is suing the WSA, while also representing the Newtown Board of Education on various other matters.

The WSA’s proposed revisions to the Water Pollution Control Plan would make the plan more concise than the plan it would replace. If the revised plan is approved by the WSA, there would be less need for the WSA to repeatedly update the document, according to Mr Hurley. The original plan was approved in 1995, with revisions made in 1999, 2009, and 2015.

According to the proposed revised plan, the document, through its related mapping, delineates the boundaries of areas to be served by town sewers as well as the areas where sewers are to be avoided. The plan also describes the policies and programs the town employs to control both surface water pollution and groundwater pollution.