Greenridge Subdivision—

Selectmen Endorse Pact On Water System Extension

  By Andrew Gorosko

The Board of Selectmen this week endorsed a proposed agreement concerning certain protective conditions that would apply to the town and the borough if state regulators decide to have United Water extend its Newtown-based public water supply system to the Greenridge residential subdivision in Brookfield.

First Selectman Pat Llodra and Selectman William Rodgers endorsed the proposed pact. Selectman William Furrier did not attend the April 18 selectmen’s session at which the matter was reviewed in closed session.

The proposed agreement will be referred to the Legislative Council, which is expected to review and act on it on April 27.

Borough Warden James Gaston said April 20 that the Borough Board of Burgesses has endorsed his signing the agreement on behalf of the borough, provided that the selectmen and the council endorse the pact. If any significant  changes are made to the document, it would be subject to further review by the burgesses, Mr Gaston said.

The Borough Historic District Commission has endorsed the agreement, Mr Gaston said, adding that the Borough Zoning Commission has yet to formally review the matter.

“I think it’s a reasonable compromise…It was a hard compromise,” Mr Gaston said. “I think it’s as a good a deal as we’re going to get,” he added.

The state Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) and the state Department of Public Health (DPH) are considering what would be the best means to provide a safe drinking water supply to Greenridge: an extension of United Water’s Newtown-based water supply system or the provision of water to Greenridge from some source within Brookfield. Greenridge has a contaminated water supply.

Because it is expected that extending United Water’s water supply from Newtown to Brookfield will be the most likely state-sanctioned solution to the Greenridge water problems, Newtown officials have met with United Water and Brookfield officials several times recently in discussing the conditions under which such an extension would occur.

DPUC-DPH regulators are allowing the three parties to create a stipulated agreement that would become a part of a revised DPUC-DPH approval of extending United Water’s Newtown-based water supply to Greenridge.

Mrs Llodra has said that Newtown is willing to aid Greenridge in obtaining a safe drinking water supply, but certain conditions must be placed on such a project to protect Newtown.

Mrs Llodra said April 20 that the proposed agreement would temporarily limit the use of a 12-inch-diameter water line, which would be extended into Brookfield by United Water, to only providing water for Greenridge residences.

That limitation on the water line’s use would remain in effect until United Water pays for and completes a water resources study on the Pootatuck Aquifer, the Pootatuck River, and United Water’s water well system.

The results of the water resources study would be provided to Newtown and to the DPH, Mrs Llodra said. Also, United Water would be required to participate in regional water supply planning, she added.

DPUC-DPH would have jurisdiction over the agreement among Newtown, Brookfield, and United Water for about 42 months, Mrs Llodra said.

In May 2010, United Water began a $4 million project to extend an underground water pipeline along Hawleyville Road northward from the intersection of Mt Pleasant Road and Hawleyville Road to the Greenridge residential subdivision off Whisconier Road in Brookfield.

In January 2008, DPUC and DPH had ordered United Water to provide safe drinking water to Greenridge to resolve longstanding problems with tainted water there.

Town of Newtown and Borough of Newtown officials, however, objected to that water extension project, resulting in state regulators halting the pipeline work until points of conflict could be resolved. Town and borough officials charged that extending the Newtown-based water supply into Brookfield could potentially compromise Newtown’s water supply needs.

The DPUC-DPH regulators then held a series of public hearings at which Newtown officials raised their objections to the project, and later, Brookfield officials provided various alternate proposals to provide water to Greenridge from sources lying within Brookfield.

United Water representatives have maintained that the Newtown-based water supply holds adequate water for a water system extension to Greenridge, and have urged DPUC and DPH to give the water extension project a final approval.

The existing Greenridge community water supply is contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive minerals. Drinking such tainted water is considered harmful. About 700 people live in Greenridge, a small part of which lies in Newtown.

United Water’s public water supply system serves central Newtown, as well as South Main Street, Mt Pleasant Road, and Sandy Hook Center. Its source is the Pootatuck Aquifer.