Conservation Panel Considers Sewer Line Extension

By Andrew Gorosko

The Conservation Commission is considering an application for a wetlands permit from Rand-Whitney Container in connection with its proposal to extend a sanitary sewer line about 2,500 feet from Church Hill Road along Edmond Road to its cardboard box factory.

Rand-Whitney Container of Newtown, LLC proposes building a low-pressure sewer line to dispose of the factory’s wastewater. The factory has a failing septic system.

The firm is applying to the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) to dispose of conventional sewage, not industrial waste. Industrial waste produced at the factory is now trucked away.

If the sewer line is installed, the firm, in the future, could apply to dispose of its industrial waste via the sewer line. The town, however, would levy a higher sewer use cost against the firm for disposing of industrial waste, because it is more costly to treat such wastewater than conventional sewage.

A large-scale grinder pump situated near the 130,000-square-foot factory would power the low-pressure sewer line.

Conservation Official C. Stephen Driver said Monday Conservation Commission members are concerned that sewer construction not contaminate a nearby brook. Rand-Whitney wants to install a two-inch diameter plastic sewer line beneath the shoulder of Edmond Road on the side of that road nearer Interstate-84. The sewer would be placed in a wetland buffer area, not directly in a wetland.

During sewer construction, the brook would be protected from sedimentation by a silt fence.

Conservation Commission members are considering whether placing the sewer line beneath Edmond Road, rather than alongside the road, would better protect water quality in the nearby stream, Mr Driver said.

Fuss and O’Neill, Inc, a Manchester engineering firm, represents Rand-Whitney in its application before the Conservation Commission. The firm is also the town’s consulting engineer.

Fred Hurley, town director of public works, said the sewering proposal is a straightforward project. “It should be very simple,” he said. “Rand-Whitney is ready to move to solve any environmental problem,” he said.

The WPCA has endorsed Rand-Whitney’s proposal to extend a sewer to its factory. The WPCA’s final approval for the project is expected after the WPCA and the company complete a sewage discharge agreement and establish a sewer connection fee.

Rand-Whitney’s proposal to extend a low-pressure sewer to its plant is similar to the Meadowbrook Terrace Mobile Home Park’s proposal to extend a sewer to its site on Route 302, Mr Hurley noted. The mobile home park is expected to submit a sewer extension application to the WPCA in the future.

In October, 1998, before Rand-Whitney bought the box factory from its former owner, Union Camp, Rand-Whitney sought preliminary WPCA approval to extend a sewer line along Edmond Road, which is a private road. At that time, Rand-Whitney said whether it would be allowed to extend a sewer line to the plant was an important issue in whether it would buy the factory from Union Camp. Extending a sewer line to the factory was included in a past proposed municipal sewer district. But the sewer district, which was approved by voters in 1992, excluded that sewer line.

The Newtown Health District has endorsed extending a sewer line to the factory in view of its failing septic system.

The factory manufactures corrugated packaging and graphic displays such as those used in stores to promote products. Rand-Whitney bought the plant from Union Camp in December, 1998 in a $2.9 million cash sale. Union Camp later merged with the larger International Paper.