Date: Fri 31-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-WPCA-high-school

Full Text:

WPCA Backs Sewer Line Extension To High School

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) has reworded a WPCA resolution

which would allow an extension of a sanitary sewer line to Newtown High School

to rectify a pollution problem there.

The WPCA's May 23 action would allow a sewer line extension provided that the

Board of Education decides to link the high school to the town sewer system,

according to WPCA Chairman Peter Alagna. Approval by voters at a town meeting

also would be needed, he said.

Funding for a sewer line extension would come from the $34.2-million bond for

sewer system construction approved by voters in April 1992, Mr Alagna said.

In reviewing plans for a proposed Newtown High School expansion, the state

Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) earlier this year found there

were higher-than-acceptable nitrate levels in domestic water wells on Oakview

Road, a dirt road west of the high school.

The DEP said the high school's large septic system apparently is the cause of

the nitrate pollution problem. The DEP eventually agreed to let planning for

the expansion project proceed, provided that the town rectify the pollution

problem, either by extension of a sewer line to the school of the construction

of a small wastewater treatment plant at the school.

Town officials have questioned whether the high school septic system is the

source of the nitrate pollution problem, pointing out that the area formerly

held a septage lagoon and a landfill. The town has been running groundwater

tests in the area to determine the source of the pollution.

The town's consulting civil engineers, Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, of Manchester,

have estimated the cost of extending a sewer line to the school at $500,000 to

$600,000, according to Mr Alagna. A sewer line extending from the intersection

of Washington Avenue and Crestwood Drive to the high school would be a

"transmission" sewer line to exclusively serve the high school and not the

properties between the intersection and the high school, he said. Due to

topographical conditions, a sewage pumping station would be needed to move

sewage from the high school to the sewer system, he said.

In another matter at the May 23 WPCA meeting, members decided against

expanding the sewer district to include Blakeslee Drive, as well as sections

of Newfield Lane and Hanover Road. Mr Alagna said the responses to a town

questionnaire submitted to residents living in those areas indicated that

residents there have insufficient interest in being connected to sewers to

expand the sewer district. Of the 19 questionnaires mailed to property owners,

eight were returned to the town. Of the eight responses, five favored sewer

system connections and three did not.

In another matter, WPCA member Tim Lachapelle asked that the town's health

department conduct a survey of property owners on Edmond Road to learn whether

they want to be included in the sewer district.

Union Camp Corp of 1 Edmond Road, a corrugated container manufacturer, has

asked to be included in the sewer district.

Another major facility in the area is Pitney-Bowes Distribution Center at 7

Edmond Road.

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

groundwater pollution problems caused by failing septic systems. To do so, it

is building a sewer system to serve the Borough, Sandy Hook Center and Taunton

Pond North.