Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) members learned at their February 13 meeting that the two pumps and generator that are required for the long-planned improvement project at the Sandy Hook Center sewage pumping station have been ordered.

The parts are the prime components at the pumping station, which is one of four such facilities that keep the central municipal sanitary system operating.

WSA members learned that a project to remove two existing pumps and an electric generator at the station at 5-A Glen Road and replace them with two new higher-capacity pumps and a new generator is expected to start either in late spring or early summer.

Fuss & O’Neill Inc, the town’s consulting engineer, is making plans for the project, according to Fred Hurley, town public works director. The installation work will be put out to bid. Mr Hurley said he hopes the improvement project’s cost can be held below $500,000.

Because the new pumps will be larger than the existing pumps, providing a flow rate approximately 50 percent greater than current equipment, there will be less room for other gear inside the compact pump station, Mr Hurley explained.

Thus, the new generator will be installed outdoors adjacent to the station. The new diesel generator will be fitted with sound-muffling equipment to reduce the noise that it produces. Typically, such equipment is given a weekly test that runs for about 30 minutes to demonstrate that it is in good working order.

In the event that electricity fails in the area, the presence of a generator allows the pumping station to keep working and moving sewage uphill toward the central sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road.

In 2018, Fuss & O’Neill submitted a 67-page report on the need to expand sewage pumping capacity. The study addressed topics including hydraulics, extreme wastewater flow situations, pump performance, and how to best reduce peak wastewater flows.

Past development in Sandy Hook has resulted in the pumping station reaching its limits, requiring that its capacity be increased, according to the WSA. New development in the area also is anticipated.

Twice in the past, the Sandy Hook pump station almost overflowed with wastewater. In one case, the Newtown High School swimming pool was drained, and all the pool water rapidly traveling through the sewer system nearly flooded the station. In the other case, a major grease blockage in the sewer system was located at Newtown Shopping Village at 5 Queen Street. When that blockage was cleared, a great volume of wastewater traveled through the system, again nearly flooding the pump house.

The three other pump stations in the central sewer district are located at 47-A Hanover Road, 33-A Taunton Lake Drive, and 17-A Baldwin Road. The Sandy Hook station is in a commercial area, with the other three stations located in residential settings.

Due to the varied topography of the central sewer district, there are gravity-powered sewers and pressurized sewers. Gravity sewers allow wastewater to drain downward to pump stations where the wastewater is then pressurized and directed upward via force mains toward the central sewage treatment plant at Commerce Road.

The town started operation of the central sewer system in 1997, at the urging of state environmental officials, to resolve longstanding groundwater pollution problems caused by many failing septic systems in the borough.

In 2001, the town began operation of a smaller separate sanitary sewer system in Hawleyville. The town expanded that system in 2016. Its wastewater is discharged at a regional treatment plant in Danbury.