Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

state-salt-shed-conservation

Full Text:

State Rejects Town Bid For Salt Shed Monitoring Wells

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Although Conservation Commission members have pressed the state Department of

Transportation (DOT) to install groundwater quality monitoring wells near

DOT's planned road salt storage shed at Fairfield Hills, the DOT has informed

the town that it does not plan to drill such wells.

Conservation Commission members want the wells drilled at the salt shed site

to gauge any possible salt contamination of the nearby Pootatuck Aquifer, the

town's sole source aquifer.

In a June 7 letter to Conservation Commission Chairman Sandra Michaud, Bradley

J. Smith, manager of state design for DOT's bureau of engineering and highway

operations, writes "It is not our practice to install monitoring wells at our

salt shed sites. Past experience from the construction and use of our (more

than 60) new salt shed facilities has not shown an impact on the surface and

groundwater resources." Mr Smith adds that DOT's view on the matter is shared

by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

In a May 12 letter to Mr Smith, Ms Michaud had written that Conservation

Commission members had voted to urge that monitoring wells be installed

between the planned salt storage shed and Deep Brook. "The closeness of the

proposed facility to the Pootatuck Aquifer would justify this," Ms Michaud

wrote.

DEP

In an April 7 letter to State Rep Julia Wasserman, Randy May, a DEP

supervising sanitary engineer wrote "We see no way that the proposed (salt

storage) site would contribute salt, or other pollutants to any water supply

well... The DOT design for these facilities has to be considered

state-of-the-art, with regard to management of road salt, while minimizing

environmental damage. Certainly there is variability in the manner that these

facilities are managed, but it is difficult to conceive of very significant

(salt) losses from these facilities themselves."

"We have worked diligently with DOT to try to ensure that these facilities are

sited in areas which do not threaten sensitive environments. We have carefully

evaluated both potential impacts on streams and aquatic life... We have found

that the (environmental) threat is not significant, except to certain species,

such as red maple," Mr May adds.

In an April 3 letter to Mr May, Corinne Fitting, a DEP senior environmental

analyst, described her research into whether the proposed salt storage shed

would affect existing or future public water supplies in Newtown.

Ms Fitting found that the salt shed site is outside the area that could be

expected to affect the two existing public water supply sources in the

Pootatuck Aquifer.

United Water has its wellhead across South Main Street from Sand Hill Plaza.

The public water supply which serves Fairfield Hills, Garner Correctional

Institution and Nunnawauk Meadows has wellheads on the property of the

Pootatuck Fish and Game Club and on the north side of Mile Hill head near the

Pootatuck River.

Ms Fitting found that the state salt shed site has little, if any, potential

to affect future public water supplies.

"It is also my understanding that it is highly unlikely that any additional

public water supply wells would be permitted in this aquifer because of

unacceptable impacts to the Pootatuck River," she writes.

Shed Design

The state plans to build a high-roofed road salt storage shed on a two-acre

site off Old Farm Road, just west of Fairfield Hills' former sewage treatment

plant. Road salt would be mixed with sand and placed in dump trucks inside the

shed during winter storms as an environmental precaution.

The site is not in the 186-acre core campus of Fairfield Hills which is for

sale by the state. The salt shed site is near the town's Aquifer Protection

District (APD).

At an April informational session on the salt storage shed, First Selectman

Herbert Rosenthal supported having groundwater quality monitoring wells

drilled near the planned road salt shed to detect potential salt contamination

of the Pootatuck Aquifer.

Ms Michaud then said the facility planned by DOT is clearly better than the

arrangement the state now uses at Fairfield Hills for salt storage and mixing.

But DOT should install two groundwater quality monitoring wells between the

planned salt shed and a brook to detect possible groundwater contamination by

salt, she stressed.

A new salt shed is needed to replace the existing substandard salt storage

building at Fairfield Hills which has a dirt floor, according to DOT. The

inadequacy of existing facilities has resulted in sand and salt being mixed

outdoors.

To prevent environmental problems, the planned road salt shed site will be

enclosed by curbing to direct drainage into storm water catch basins and

"gross particle separators." Storm water drainage will be diverted to a brook.

DOT plans to build a gable-arch, barn-like salt shed that is 45 feet wide, 96

feet long and 35 feet tall. The height of the buildings allows payloaders and

dump trucks to work under cover. Road salt is always kept indoors to minimize

environmental hazards.

DOT plans to start construction of the salt shed in October with completion

scheduled for February 2000.