Date: Fri 15-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

water-drainage-Rosenthal

Full Text:

Water Drainage Woes Are Newtown's No. 1 Complaint

(with cut)

BY STEVE BIGHAM

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal has been in office for more than five months,

and he is already received phone calls from residents on just about every

issue.

People call with complaints about potholes, high taxes, noise, etc. But, to Mr

Rosenthal's surprise, the one complaint he hears more than any other has to do

with water drainage.

"I get more comments about water than anything else," he said Tuesday. "People

are always asking me, `What can you do about these water problems?'"

As Public Works Director Fred Hurley points out, water mixed in with gravity

usually spells trouble for homeowners. Run-off from roads creates huge

problems when it flows into yards and basements.

Many of the complaints about water come from residents who live on private

roads in the private communities of Sandy Hook. When it rains, the water

simply runs off onto people's properties. There, however, the town's hands are

tied. Since the town does not own the roads, it cannot do any work on them.

And, according to the first selectman, it would be too costly for the town to

take them into its road system. Most are far too narrow to be considered legal

thoroughfares, and in order for them to be widened, portions of residents'

properties would have to be chewed up.

"I don't think people realize the extent of the damage caused by water," Mr

Hurley said. The biggest cause of failure to roads is water.

Beavers have also been known to create water problems in town. The dams they

build clog drainage pipes and usually cause flooding. Often, drainage culverts

become clogged by leaves dumped by residents.

Poor drainage can become a real hazard in the winter when water buildup

transforms itself into ice.

A solution? There isn't one. Drainage problems will exist as long as there is

rain, town officials say. Curbs, catch basins and storm-water sewers are used

to combat the problem, but the water will continue to flow.

And Mr Rosenthal will continue to hear the complaints.