Sandy Hook Center—

Sewage Spill Problems Compounded By Delayed Response

By Andrew Gorosko

Town officials are investigating the causes of a municipal sewage spill that initially occurred in the basement of a duplex house at 86 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center on the morning of Sunday, February 19.

The problems posed by the sewage spill were compounded by a lengthy delay in the town dispatching the proper workers to the site to stop the sewage from flowing out of the municipal sewer system and onto that private property.

It is estimated that between 500 and 1,000 gallons of sewage overall spilled in the incident.

Jennifer Freed, who along with her husband Drew Rocky owns the house on the south side of Church Hill Road, said February 21 that she placed an emergency 911 call to the town’s dispatch center at 8:54 am on February 19 to report that sewage was flowing into the house’s basement in seeking help to resolve the problem.

A police officer who was then dispatched to the scene recommended that a plumber be called, Ms Freed said. Ms Freed was not at the property during the incident, but communicated with town officials via telephone calls.

John Phillips, who is a tenant of one of the apartments in the duplex, said February 20 that a plumber was called to fix the problem that had caused sewage to accumulate several inches deep in the basement. Six people live in the house which has municipal sanitary sewer service.

The plumber stopped the sewage from entering the basement, but then hundreds of gallons of the wastewater bubbled up from a manhole located in the front yard at 86 Church Hill Road. That sewage then drained southward onto the private property.

At 11:11 am, the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company was dispatched to the property for a pumping detail in the basement, after which the nature of the problem became apparent to emergency dispatchers, said Maureen Will, town director of emergency communications. Fire companies do not handle sewage spills.

Steps were then taken to have the correct responders go to the scene to stop the sewage spill and to start cleaning up the spillage.

Ms Freed expressed frustration that it took so long for the town to send the correct personnel to the property to resolve the problem. She said she eventually called First Selectman Pat Llodra at home to explain the problem to her, after which, Ms Freed said, the appropriate personnel arrived at her property.

Mr Phillips said that those workers handled the problem well, ending the spillage. United Water is the contactor that provides sewer-related workers for the town.

Ms Freed said that testing showed that the domestic water well that serves 86 Church Hill Road was not contaminated by the sewage spill.

On February 22, Ms Freed said she is satisfied with the town’s plans to clean up the area affected by the spill, but added that the town’s response to her 8:54 am 911 call was “baffling.”

Mrs Llodra said February 21 that after receiving the call from Ms Freed, the dispatcher should have alerted the town public works department about the problem.

“Time was lost. … Unfortunately, it was not handled well. I’m sorry her call was not handled properly at the outset… There was human error,” Mrs Llodra said. The town will cover costs for the property damage caused by the sewage spill, she said.

Ms Will said February 22, “A mistake was made… I apologize profusely for what happened.”

Ms Will said that an existing procedure that dispatchers use for sewage spill complaints was not followed after the 911 call was received.

“I’m just grateful it was rectified as soon as it was,” Ms Will said.

She said she will be retraining dispatchers to ensure that such a problem does not occur again. “We made a mistake and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she said.

“The staff member made a mistake, and as the department head, I will be dealing with the issue. … I am truly sorry for what happened,” Ms Will said.

She declined to disclose the staff member’s identity. The dispatch center is staffed by at least two dispatchers at all times.

Cause of Spill

Fred Hurley, town public works director, said, “We didn’t get called for several hours” after Ms Freed’s 8:54 am call to the dispatch center.

“The ball just got dropped,” Mr Hurley said, noting that the dispatch center has procedures for properly handling such calls.

Mr Hurley said that hundreds of gallons of sewage, possibly as much as 1,000 gallons, spilled out of the sewer system in the incident.

He said the town is investigating what caused some sediment to clog a manhole that is located off-the-road and across the street from 86 Church Hill Road. That blockage caused in the gravity-powered sewer system to back up, with sewage spilling out of it and into the basement.

Mr Hurley said it appears that during a past construction project, a steel ring that is used to hold a manhole cover in place was knocked askew, creating a gap that would allow sediment to eventually enter the sewer system.

On February 19, that manhole cover was found to be covered over with earthen material.

Current construction work in that area, coupled with the effects of stormwater runoff, could have resulted in sediment entering the sewer system and creating the blockage that caused the sewage spill, Mr Hurley said.

Town officials are investigating whether a current construction project there contributed to the sewage spill occurring, he said.

In that project, Dauti Construction, LLC, of Danbury is building a 26-unit condo complex known as Edona Commons at a 4.5-acre site at 95 and 99 Church Hill Road, near that manhole.

The town reported the sewage spill to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.