Town, Borough Officials Voice Concerns Over Water System Extension

By Andrew Gorosko

Town and borough officials have explained to state public utility regulators their concerns about United Water’s controversial plan to extend its public water supply system from Newtown to the Greenridge residential subdivision off Route 25 in Brookfield, where the water supply is contaminated with harmful radioactive elements.

At a lengthy July 29 state Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) public hearing, town and borough officials met with DPUC regulators, state Department of Public Health (DPH) representatives, and water company staffers, among others, to air their concerns about the $4 million water system extension project.

The hearing is slated to resume at 9:30 am on August 10 at the DPUC offices in New Britain.

In late May, United Water started work on extending its water system from Hawleyville to Greenridge, but then halted the project after state officials urged the company to suspend work until town and borough officials’ concerns could be resolved.

The DPUC and DPH in the past ordered United Water to provide Greenridge with safe drinking water to replace its current contaminated water supply. There are about 230 single-family houses in Greenridge, where the water supply system is fed by a series wells tainted with naturally occurring uranium and other radioactive substances. The ingestion of such tainted water is considered harmful.

Local concerns over the planned water system extension focus on whether such a project would jeopardize the Pootatuck Aquifer, which would supply water for Greenridge. A prime concern involves whether the Pootatuck Aquifer holds a sufficient water reserve to extend the water system to Brookfield, in view of Newtown’s future water supply requirements.

At the July 29 public hearing, First Selectman Pat Llodra described in detail the town’s numerous concerns about the water system extension.

Mrs Llodra said, “Decisions about water supply and distribution should be made through the best process, and informed by accurate and relevant scientific data regarding the environmental impacts. In this case, we have a badly flawed process at all levels of decisionmaking, and a startling absence of understanding about environmental impact.

“If the DPUC, DPH and [state Department of Environmental Protection] forward this project without addressing those shortcomings, then they are signaling to all citizens of this state that process and knowledge do not matter,” she added.

Environmental impact studies need to be performed before water supply diversions such as the one planned by United Water can occur, she said.

Also, regional planning concerning public water supplies must be improved because the existing planning process is inadequate, she added.  

Newtown Public Health Director Donna Culbert said the Greenridge water supply problem must be addressed, but it is important not to create other problems in doing so. The existing Housatonic Water Utility Coordinating Committee is a poorly run organization, she said.

Mrs Llodra said the actions of that coordinating committee resulted in the decision to have United Water extend its water supply to Greenridge.

“The process is very flawed,” she said, adding that Newtown needs assurances that a water system extension by United Water is limited to serving only the Greenridge subdivision and not other places.

Mrs Llodra said town officials expect that United Water intends to extend its water to other locations in Brookfield, noting that plans for the water system extension indicate the water main extending past the Greenridge subdivision.

Newtown opposes any water system extension beyond Greenridge, she said, adding “Frankly, we don’t feel we understand the scope of this initiative.”

Ms Culbert said she has learned that Whisconier School in Brookfield also is now in United Water’s “exclusive service area.”

“I find this extremely troublesome,” she said.

Mrs Llodra asked how local officials could be assured that United Water would not create water diversions in the future unless they are reviewed under DEP’s water diversion permit process.

George Benson, Newtown’s director of planning and land use, pointed out that United Water’s extension of water to Greenridge would involve “an inter-basin transfer of water” in which water is transported from one watershed into another watershed.

Such a transfer of water between watersheds would prevent the transferred water from recharging the aquifer from which it was drawn, potentially leading to that aquifer’s depletion.

Such a water transfer from the Pootatuck Aquifer to Greenridge holds the potential for depleting the Pootatuck River’s water volume, he said. The river is a source of water for the aquifer.

An environmental impact assessment should be performed before water is diverted from the Pootatuck Aquifer to Greenridge, he said.

Ken Taylor, a consulting geologist for United Water, told DPUC officials that the Pootatuck Aquifer holds sufficient water to supply Newtown in the future, as the town further develops.

Margaret Miner, director of the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, a private river conservation group, told DPUC staffers that the project planned by United Water should be subject to the requirements of the DEP’s water diversion permit process. A complete scientific review of the project should be performed, she said.

Borough Warden James Gaston said, “We recognize the [water supply] need of Greenridge. That is really not an issue.”

Borough residents need to be assured that no harm to the local water supply would be caused by a water system expansion, he said.

Local officials at the public hearing questioned United Water’s methodology in gaining state permission to extend its water supply to Greenridge, objecting the firm’s apparently quietly employing a legal loophole in state regulations to avoid the need to obtain a water diversion permit from DEP.

Obtaining such a water diversion permit from DEP entails a formal public review process that United Water was able to avoid in gaining approval to extend its water supply to Greenridge, Newtown officials say.

Newtown officials urged state regulators to study the results of a US Geological Survey study on the characteristics of the Pootatuck Aquifer in considering their concerns about the planned extension of the water supply system. That recently published report is expected to be discussed at the August 10 DPUC hearing.