Date: Fri 30-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

town-meeting-sewers-septic

Full Text:

Voters Approve Septic Repair Program, Sewer Line Extension

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Voters at a town meeting have approved using town bond money to help repair

failing septic systems located outside the sewer district, and also to extend

a sewer line to Newtown High School.

About 35 people attended the August 22 town meeting at Newtown Middle School.

When a show-of-hands vote was taken on the two new uses for the

previously-approved $34.3-million sewer bond, there was no opposition.

Peter Grose, sewer project manager for Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, the town's

consulting engineer, said the septic system repair program and the high school

sewer line extension won't increase the overall $34.3 million in municipal

bonding for the town sewer project. Voters approved the bonding at a 1992

referendum.

Before the two new uses for the money were approved, the town had been

committed to spending about $30.5 million of the $34.3 million in municipal

bonding. The septic system repair program and a high school sewer line could

increase spending by another $1.25 million to approximately $31.75 million.

Septic Repair Program

Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) Chairman Peter Alagna said the septic

system repair program will provide financial aid to repair failing septic

systems outside the sewer district where such repairs will provide a permanent

water pollution solution, and thus avoid the need for sewers.

The program isn't intended for septic repairs in areas where sewer line

installation would provide the only permanent solution to wastewater pollution

problems.

The program provides subsidized federal loans and some small grants. Grants

could range up to 10 percent of a septic system's repair cost.

The average cost to repair a failing septic system is estimated at $10,000 to

$12,000. The smallest amount which will be loaned is $2,000. The largest

amount will be $20,000.

Those property owners helped by the program will follow the WPCA's rules and

regulations, including having their septic tanks pumped out periodically.

So far, about 30 property owners have said they want to participate in the

septic system repair program.

Program participants will be provided with loans at a two percent subsidized

interest rate. The loans could be repaid across 5-, 10-, 15-, or 20-year

terms.

To be covered by the septic system repair program, the affected houses must

have been occupied before July 1, 1983.

The town is eligible to receive up to $660,000 from the federal government for

the program. Part of that money will be used to administer the project.

The money comes from the federal Clean Water Fund, money that typically is

used for sewer system construction. The state Department of Environmental

Protection (DEP) distributes the money to municipalities on behalf of the US

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Besides the septic system repair program, the town is developing a broader

septic system management program, which includes anti-pollution policies and

regulations to prevent the need to expand the sewer system.

Property owners interested in participating in the septic system repair

program should contact the town health department in the lower level of Town

Hall South, 3 Main Street.

High School Sewer

The revised sewer bonding resolution will allow the town to extend a sewer to

the high school, if it is decided that such a sewer extension is the best way

to solve a problem there with higher than acceptable nitrate levels in

wastewater discharges.

The revised resolution approved by voters would allow a sewer "transmission

line" to be extended to the high school from Sandy Hook Center. Such a

transmission line would not serve properties between the high school and Sandy

Hook Center, Mr Grose said.

Any property owners along such a sewer transmission line who want to connect

to the line would have to petition the Water Pollution Control Authority

(WPCA) to get permission to do so, said Mr Alagna.

In May, the WPCA approved extending a sewer line from Sandy Hook Center to the

high school provided that the proposal gains approval at a town meeting and

from the school board. School officials have endorsed providing the high

school with sewer service.

Earlier this year, in connection with the school system's $25-million plan to

expand Newtown High School, the DEP learned that some domestic water wells on

Oakview Road contained water with higher than acceptable nitrate levels,

posing health hazards. Oakview Road is a residential road west of the high

school.

The DEP has maintained that the high school's septic system has caused the

well water contamination.

Town officials, however, while acknowledging that the high school septic

system probably contributes to the pollution problem, point out that the area

is the site of a former septage lagoon and landfill. School athletic field

fertilization and the keeping of horses in the area also are thought to be

contributing factors to the nitrate pollution problem.

The high school expansion project then appeared to be in jeopardy due to the

pollution problems.

But after negotiations with the town, the state agreed to let the high school

expansion project proceed, provided that the town agreed to extend a sewer

line to the high school, or build a wastewater treatment plant at the high

school to remove nitrates from the high school wastewater.

The estimated cost for a sewer line extension to the high school is about

$550,000 to $600,000, according to Fuss and O'Neill. A pumping station to move

sewage from the high school to the sewer system also would be needed.

The town is under a state pollution abatement order to rectify longstanding

groundwater pollution problems in the Borough, Taunton Pond North, and Sandy

Hook Center. The sewering project is intended to provide a permanent water

pollution solution.

The local share of the $34.3-million sewer project is about $17 million. The

$17 million will come from sewer assessment charges and general taxation. The

remainder of the money comes from state and federal sources.