Residents will have an opportunity to comment and ask questions about the town’s proposed revisions to the Water Pollution Control Plan (WPCP) at a public hearing slated for 7 pm on Thursday, October 11, at the municipal sewage treatment plant office building at 24 Commerce Road.

The Water & Sewer Authority (WSA), which was formerly known as the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), is the agency that administers the town’s central and Hawleyville sanitary sewer systems. The seven-member WSA will conduct the October 11 public hearing.

The WSA also administers the town-owned public water supply system that serves Fairfield Hills and surrounding areas. That water supply is not addressed in the pollution control plan

A copy of the revised Water Pollution Control Plan is available for public review at the town Public Works Department offices at 4 Turkey Hill Road.

The proposed revised plan is shorter and more streamlined than the plan it would replace, explained Fred Hurley, town public works director. The proposed plan reduces the amount of sewage gallonage statistics included in the document.

Mr Hurley said the revised document is more general than the current plan, meaning that if the new plan is approved by the WSA, there would be less need to repeatedly update the document as conditions and operational aspects of the sewer systems change across time. The current document was approved by the WSA in January 2015. The original plan was approved in 1995, with revisions being approved in 1999 and 2009.

“It’s general and generic compared to the [current] plan, “ Mr Hurley said. The specificity of previous plans has required that WSA repeatedly formally modify the plan as changes occurred in the sewer systems, he added. Such changes might involve a major sewer user connecting to the sewer system and consequently altering the statistics concerning the amount of sewage treatment capacity in use at the sewage treatment plant as well as the plant’s remaining capacity.

“It was cumbersome in that it was too specific,” Mr Hurley said of the current plan.

According to the proposed revised plan, the document, through its related mapping, serves to delineate the boundaries of the areas to be served by town sewers as well as the areas where sewers are to be avoided. The plan also describes the policies and programs the town employs to control both surface water and groundwater pollution.

The boundaries of the central sewer system became an issue earlier this year when a Trumbull land developer sought WSA approval to construct a high-density rental apartment complex at 79 Church Hill Road. The WSA’s ensuing review of its sewer mapping indicated that the sewer district did not extend as far northward in that area as the developer had thought, thus putting some strict limits on the geographical area that could be served by sanitary sewers. Unable to resolve the matter, the developer has filed a lawsuit challenging the WSA’s decision. The lawsuit is pending in court.

Notably, the central sanitary sewer system, which started operations in 1997, was constructed for environmental reasons. The system was built by the town to provide an environmentally sound way to dispose of wastewater, which had been causing soil and groundwater pollution problems due to many failing septic systems. The town shares the use of the sewage plant with the state. The town has the rights to use 332,000 gallons of the plant’s daily treatment capacity.

By contrast, the Hawleyville sanitary sewer system, which started operations in 2001 and was expanded in 2016, was constructed by the town to stimulate economic development. The town has the rights to use 150,000 gallons of the Danbury sewage plant’s treatment daily capacity for its Hawleyville sewers.

Recently, the WSA has sought comments from town agencies on its proposed revisions to the Water Pollution Control Plan.