Date: Fri 03-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Conservation-Majewski-water

Full Text:

New Conservation Officers Sees Challenges Ahead

(with photo)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Christopher Majewski comes to Newtown well-versed in environmental issues,

having served in several natural resource conservation posts.

With a background in forestry, geology and water resource protection, Mr

Majewski serves as the town's conservation official, working as a technical

adviser to the Conservation Commission, the agency that acts as Newtown's

Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission.

For the past four years, Mr Majewski, a New Fairfield resident, had worked in

the state Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) inland water

resources division where he was involved in reviewing applications for water

diversion projects.

Such work concerns the regulation of potable water supplies, reviewing how

water is used for industrial processes, the relocation of stream channels, and

reviewing water supply plans submitted by public utility companies. Such water

resource planning involves both groundwater pumped from wells sunk into

stratified drift aquifers and surface water supplies drawn from reservoirs.

The DEP is a large organization, Mr Majewski noted.

He said he hopes to have a greater effect on the municipal level while working

as an environmental regulator in Newtown.

Mr Majewski served in New Fairfield as a member of the Inland Wetlands and

Watercourses Commission before becoming that agency's technical assistant on

soil erosion, sedimentation control and flood hazards.

Later he was Danbury's environmental compliance officer concerning wetlands

and soil protection, as well as maintaining water quality standards. In

Danbury, he worked in the area of chemical/hazardous wastes, inspecting gas

stations, dry cleaners and auto body shops for compliance with regulations.

Serving as Newtown's conservation official since May, Mr Majewski does written

reports on all the applications pending before the Conservation Commission. In

those reports, he critiques applicants' development plans, examining how the

plans meet applicable regulations and how they deviate from them.

"I'm more than willing to explain, educate, assist," he said, noting the

wetlands agency is comprised of appointed volunteers.

Mr Majewski said natural resource conservation can be viewed "holistically" in

which point-source pollution, non source-point pollution, and sewage treatment

plant performance are controlled to limit overall environmental pollution.

Point-source pollution emanates from a fixed point such as a factory

smokestack or a wastewater discharge from a factory into a river. Non

point-source pollution results when stormwater runoff washes across impervious

surfaces such as roofs, streets, parking lots and driveways and carries off

pollutants, such as fertilizers, pesticides, spent motor oil and anti-freeze,

into streams and brooks.

Mr Majewski said he's willing to make comments on the environmental aspects of

development projects, if requested, by agencies other than the Conservation

Commission.

"I don't perceive that the current building boom will last indefinitely," he

said of the rapid local growth rate. There was much undeveloped land here and

developers seized the opportunity to build on it, he noted.

The future may hold more proposals for clustered housing, he said, adding

though, it appears few local land use regulators seem to like that

developmental approach.

Mr Majewski said he doubts that high-density residential development will

supersede conventional single-family houses which are constructed on

relatively large building lots here.

Protecting The Aquifer

Besides its role as the town's wetlands and watercourses protection agency,

the Conservation Commission is the town's Aquifer Protection Agency, Mr

Majewski noted. Aquifers are underground layers of porous rock and sand

containing water into which wells can be sunk.

The commission, however, hasn't yet developed a set of local aquifer

protection regulations, Mr Majewski said. The state has guidelines which

municipalities use to write aquifer regulations.

As in other towns, the area overlying the Pootatuck Aquifer here contains some

commercially and industrially zoned land, he said.

United Water, the local public water utility company, draws water from the

aquifer at a well across South Main Street from Sand Hill Plaza. The utility

has about 1,000 accounts. The water supply serving Fairfield Hills and Garner

Correctional Institution is provided from a wellhead into the aquifer on

private property adjacent to Garner.

Residents opposed to Newtown Village, a 96-house complex proposed for a former

sand-and-gravel mine off Route 34 near Newtown High School, have complained

that such dense development could pollute the Pootatuck Aquifer.

Mr Majewski said it appears there's some interest among Conservation

Commission members in developing a set of aquifer protection regulations. He

said he plans to provide some model regulations from other towns to help the

commission write its own aquifer protection regulations.

Administering aquifer regulations would increase the commission's workload, he

noted. Aquifer protection can be accomplished through various means, he said,

such as an overlay zone, a special permit process, and prohibitions of

specific land uses, plus using "best management practices" to prevent aquifer

pollution, he said.

Protecting an aquifer can involve placing prohibitions and/or limits on the

use of fertilizers and certain chemicals above aquifers, he said. Also,

stormwater runoff can be cleansed before it's discharged into the ground to

limit aquifer pollution.