Date: Fri 11-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Appleblossom-contamination

Full Text:

DEP Gets Final Proposal For Water Clean-Up In Appleblossom Area

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

The final proposed version of the plan to solve the water contamination

problem in the Appleblossom Road area has been approved by the town and

submitted to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

If approved by the DEP, the plan will be presented to the State Bonding

Commission in April or May for funding. Design of the project is expected to

require three to four months to complete with construction expected to take an

additional four to six months.

At a meeting last September in Newtown, residents of the Appleblossom Road

area were told the plan probably would reach the state Bonding Commission last

October, with work to begin this month. But the DEP asked the town's

engineering consultants, SEA Consultants, Inc, of Rocky Hill, to do an

analysis of other possible solutions, such as digging a community well or

installing granulated activated carbon filtration systems at those houses

whose wells have shown traces of tetrachloroethylene (PCE).

"The DEP wanted the report to show that we had fully explored these options,"

said Mark A.R. Cooper, director of the Newtown Health District. "While it may

appear that the cost of installing carbon filtration systems is much less than

extending the water main, in the long run the cost would be greater."

Changes also were made in the three alternative plans which SEA originally

proposed. The plan now recommended by SEA is estimated at 20-year cost of

$1.82 million, all of which will be paid by the state. The plan includes 8,330

feet of pipe, hydrants, a booster station, permit fees, testing, well

abandonment and a sampling program to monitor the groundwater to see if

additional homes are being impacted. This plan, referred to as "A" in the

report, would provide a water main extension to residents of Appleblossom

between No 21 and the intersection with Cedar Hill Road, plus Dogwood Terrace,

Prospect Lane, those houses on South Main Street not already serviced by

public water, including 134 and 136 South Main, and 30, 32, 32A, and 40 Cedar

Hill Road. For all other homes along Cedar Hill Road which the main will pass,

and for homes at 16 to 21 Appleblossom, the report recommends that service

taps be installed to enable these homeowners to connect to the line in the

future at their own expense.

Monitor Water Quality

The report also recommends that a groundwater monitoring plan should be

implemented which would consist of 40 homes selected from the perimeter of the

predicted contamination migration area, including 64 Cedar Hill Road. Well

water sampling should be performed on a semi-annual basis for five years and

annually for the following 15 years to determine if contamination is

migrating, the report said.

If elevated levels of PCE are detected in the future, that home would be

supplied by public water if the house is adjacent to the water main. If it is

not adjacent to the main, the house would be equipped with a carbon filter.

Originally, Option A would have included homes on Cedar Hill Road to 1 Old

Gate Lane, and 64 Cedar Hill Road would have received a carbon filter. The

well water at those homes showed traces of PCE, but these were at levels less

than the maximum allowable level of 5 parts per billion (ppb), according to

the report.

"(Because) this area is at the highest point of the potentially impacted area

and levels of contamination have dropped below the detection limits for PCE,

the need for a water main in this area is less pressing," the report said. "If

the need should arise in the future, the water main could be extended (then)."

Other Alternatives

The report also presented a breakdown of the costs of other alternatives.

Option B, which would cost $2.29 million, extends the water main throughout

the entire area and loops all water mains to avoid "dead ends." Only homes

with water quality problems would be hooked to the mains. Although much more

expensive, this looped system is more reliable with improved water quality,

the consultants said. But it would also, in effect, require spending about

$460,000 to hook up only one more house - the house at 64 Cedar Hill Road,

which has exhibited low levels of PCE in the well -or more than $560,000 if

all homes were connected.

Option C is similar to Option B except that water service would be provided to

all homes the main passes - even those which do not have any existing water

quality problems. This option would cost approximately $2.4 million.

The cost of installing carbon filtration systems, monitoring the water quality

and installing replacement filters at 55 houses would amount to $1.6 million

over five years; for 77 houses, the cost would be $2.1 million, with only 20

houses in the perimeter area to be sampled by the DEP for five years. After

five years, the homeowners would be responsible for water testing and

replacement of the carbon filters.

Abandoning Wells

In each of the options, when homes are connected to the water mains, existing

private wells will have to be sealed and abandoned to eliminate the

possibility of cross-contamination. Extending the water main also may cause

reduced water pressure, particularly as the water travels up Cedar Hill Road,

so all three plans included a booster station near the intersection of

Appleblossom Road and Main Street.

Residents at last fall's meeting generally favored the more extensive plans.

But Jonathan Goldman of the DEP's Bureau of Water Management said the agency

has only about $3 million to address water quality problems across the state

in this budget year. Spending money in Newtown to solve contamination problems

which may never occur could leave insufficient funds to address pollution

problems in other communities, he said.

Lab analysis of the water in the Appleblossom area began in 1991 after PCE

contamination was discovered on the former Dual-Lite property on Simm Lane.

Geoprobe sampling of the soil by the DEP failed to identify the Dual-Lite

property as the source of the residential contamination. Mr Cooper said the

source may never be identified, partly because the contamination probably

dates back as much as 15 or 20 years and may be from multiple sources.

There are 140 homes in the area which includes Appleblossom, Dogwood Terrace,

Cedar Hill and Megans Circle, all west of South Main Street. Several homes on

Prospect, Pecks Lane and South Main Street already are supplied with public

water as are those homes located at the beginning of Appleblossom Lane.

According to the report, the major area of contamination is the area bounded

by 50 Appleblossom Lane and 32A to 32 Cedar Hill Road. PCE contamination has

not been detected south or west of 40 Cedar Hill Road except for low levels in

isolated samples from 64 Cedar Hill Road, 1 Old Gate Lane and 11 Megans

Circle. Homes in the area which have been affected by the contamination at

levels higher than 5 ppb have been supplied with drinking water or with carbon

filtration systems, depending on the severity of the problem.

William Hardy, SEA project manager, said that although SEA engineers have been

working with the DEP for months to produce the final report, the DEP has not

acted on the recommendations yet and could opt for any of the other options.