Date: Fri 11-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Appleblossom-Lane-closing

Full Text:

Appleblossom Lane To Be Closed Temporarily

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

A section of Appleblossom Lane will be closed to traffic for five days next

week to allow work crews to install a water pumping station that's part of the

public water supply system now being built in the neighborhood.

John Whitten, senior field representative for Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, the

town's consulting engineer, said Wednesday a southerly section of Appleblossom

Lane will be closed to traffic from Monday through Friday.

The section of Appleblossom Lane that will be closed extends from Appleblossom

Lane's southerly intersection with South Main Street to the intersection of

Appleblossom Lane and Cedar Hill Road, Mr Whitten said.

The road section will be shut from 7 am Monday, December 14, to 5 pm Friday,

December 18.

Motorists who want to reach addresses on Appleblossom Lane or Dogwood Terrace

are advised to enter the neighborhood from the northerly intersection of

Appleblossom Lane and South Main Street, Mr Whitten said.

Construction of the public water supply in the neighborhood began last August.

The project is underway to provide a safe drinking water supply to residents

of a neighborhood where groundwater has become contaminated with harmful

industrial solvents.

Some residences in the neighborhood already have a public water supply to

replace their domestic water wells, Mr Whitten said. The water supply project

should be completed by the end of January, he said.

Overall project costs are approximately $1.5 million, including funding

provided by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), town

department of public works, and United Water.

The homes to receive the public water supply either have polluted wells or

have wells that are threatened with potential pollution with

tetrachloroethylene (a type of polychloroethylene, PCE) at concentrations

exceeding acceptable levels.

PCE also is known as perc, perclene, and perchlor. The chemical is used as an

industrial degreasing compound and as a solvent in the dry cleaning of

fabrics.

It is thought that the solvents found their way into the groundwater after

they were used to degrease machinery somewhere in the neighborhood. The point

of origin of the pollution has not been found.

Rather than spend large sums trying to locate the source, the DEP opted to

direct its funding to provide a safe drinking water supply to residents of the

neighborhood.

Consolidated Construction of East Hartford is the prime contractor on the

construction job.

United Water's water service will be extended to homes on Appleblossom Lane,

Dogwood Terrace, and a section of Cedar Hill Road through the installation of

new water mains and individual service lines. Water from existing water mains

will be extended via new individual service lines to properties on South Main

Street, Prospect Drive, and Pecks Lane.

Ninety-three properties in the residential Appleblossom Lane area will be

connected to the water supply system.