Council Dispatching Letter Supporting Proposed Stream Flow Regulations

By John Voket

Local Legislative Council member and environmental steward James Belden is already on record indicating proposed state stream flow regulations — which will be under consideration for acceptance October 26 — are not perfect. But he convinced his fellow council members to unanimously support the state Regulation Review Committee’s acceptance of those newly drafted environmental regulations.

As a result, Legislative Council Chairman Jeff Capeci will refine and send a letter on behalf of the council to Hartford, in the hope that Newtown’s official support of the regulations would help convince legislative committee members to accept the new Department of Environmental Protection guidelines.

During Mr Belden’s presentation to the council October 20, he explained that “Newtown can gain from the [enactment of] the regulations.” The IPN councilman, who also serves as president of the Candlewood Valley Trout Unlimited chapter, and is founder and president of Pootatuck Watershed Association, was joined in support of the state measures by town Land Use Director George Benson.

Mr Benson told the council that while “the regulations are not as strong as we need them to be to protect our water, they will be helpful.”

Mr Benson and Mr Belden both indicated the new regulations would immediately impact how Newtown might appeal to the state DEP commissioner, if they have data to prove the United Water Company is overdrawing water resources from both the Pootatuck River or the town’s groundwater supply.

The land use director related a conversation he had with United Water representatives, during which Mr Benson said he was asked, “Why are you worrying about it? If we run out of water, we’ll have to just find more for you.”

“But I don’t want to run out of water,” Mr Benson said.

“The big threat is United Water,” Mr Belden echoed, adding that he has fundamental concerns with the “speculative gallons per day ratios” United Water is reporting drawing from Newtown’s aquifer and the Class A trout stream that is the primary feeder of the town’s groundwater supply.

Saying the current DEP regulations represent “a failed water registration policy,” Mr Benson said that enacting the newly proposed stream flow regulations “would address one of the impacts of that failed policy.”

Mr Benson likened the visual and scientifically calculated depletion of the Pootatuck River or measured groundwater levels to “the canary in a coal mine philosophy.”

The land use director said under the new regulations, in the event hard scientific data was produced to prove such a depletion was occurring due to United Water’s tapping of the resource, there would be a process afforded to Newtown to appeal to the DEP commissioner to take action mandating the reduction of the water company’s draw.

“We probably have more information on our [water] system than any town in the state,” Mr Benson said of the tools to measure water draw from the aquifer. “We are one step ahead of the rest of [Connecticut’s] municipalities.”

First Selectman Pat Llodra said the good news was, if Newtown’s data showed stream flow was diminishing, “we could connect a minimum stream flow violation to an appeal.”

“The bad news is, the impact has to happen before we can appeal,” Mrs Llodra said. “We hope that over time to hold water companies accountable.”

Mr Belden said without support from official groups like the council to put new regulations in force, “there is no motivation to come to the table with solutions about management” of existing water resources.

Councilman George Ferguson, who previously served on the town’s Conservation Commission, said he understands that if there is too severe a draw on the aquifer, it can collapse and become unviable or substantially compromised.

Mrs Llodra said by enacting the stream flow regulations, there would be a greater incentive for United Water to enter into a compact or agreement with Newtown.

“We almost pleaded with United Water to participate in a compact,” she said. “We asked five times, but United Water said we should wait until the stream flow regulations are out.”

After a few more moments of discussion in which Mr Belden appealed to dispatch the official letter of support, the council agreed and Mr Capeci said he would see to it the correspondence was delivered on or before the October 26 deadline.