Date: Fri 16-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-extension-septic-repair

Full Text:

Town Meeting Will Be Asked To Authorize Septic Repair Program And Sewer Line

Extension

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Voters at an August 22 town meeting will be asked to allow two new uses for

the municipal bonding that voters approved in 1992 to build the town sewer

system.

The town meeting is slated for 7:30 pm at Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen

Street.

Voters will be asked to authorize spending a portion of the bond money for a

septic system repair program for homes outside the sewer district. Also,

voters will be asked to approve spending some bond money to cover the costs of

installing sewer lines beneath Washington Avenue and Berkshire Road to provide

Newtown High School with sewer service.

Because the septic system repair project and extension of sewer lines to the

high school weren't listed in the 1992 resolution which specified the scope of

the sewering project, the town must receive formal permission from voters for

such uses of the municipal bond money.

After voters approved a maximum of $34.3 million in bonding for the sewering

project, preliminary cost estimates indicated the project would require

roughly $27 million in spending. As the project progressed, members of the

Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) added some technical improvements to

the sewage treatment plant to more thoroughly cleanse wastewater. Those

technical improvements pushed up costs. Also, sewer installers encountered

ledge in some areas where it wasn't anticipated, pushing up construction

costs. Also, some design changes were made for the treatment plant to protect

area of potential archaeological significance.

Septic Repair Program

The proposed septic system repair program would financially help eligible

residential property owners repair their failing septic systems outside the

town's sewer district. To be eligible, property owners must use the affected

properties for their primary residences.

The program provides subsidized federal loans and some small grants. Grants

could range up to 10 percent of a septic system's repair cost.

The average cost to repair a failing septic system is estimated at $10,000 to

$12,000. The smallest amount which would be loaned is $2,000. The largest

amount would be $20,000.

Those property owners helped by the program would follow the WPCA's rules and

regulations, including having their septic tanks pumped out periodically.

So far, more than 25 property owners have said they want to participate in the

septic system repair program, according to the town health department.

Program participants would be provided with loans at a two percent subsidized

interest rate. The loans could be repaid across 5-, 10-, 15-, or 20-year

terms.

Such two percent loans across 20-year terms are available to sewer system

users to pay off sewer assessments.

To be covered by the septic system repair program, the affected houses must

have been occupied before July 1, 1983.

If it is approved by voters at the town meeting, the septic system repair

program would operate until the fall of 1997.

The town is eligible to receive up to $660,000 from the federal government for

the program. Part of that money would be used to administer the project.

The money comes from the federal Clean Water Fund, money which typically is

used for sewer system construction. The state Department of Environmental

Protection distributes the money to municipalities on behalf of the US

Environmental Protection Agency.

Originally, the town planned to spend $156 million to build a sewer system

much larger than the one now under construction. Areas with failing septic

systems, which initially were planned for sewering but were later dropped from

the system, are expected to benefit from a septic system repair program.

Besides the septic system repair program, the town is developing a broader

septic system management program which includes anti-pollution policies and

regulations to prevent the need to expand the sewer system.

High School Sewer

Voters at the August 22 town meeting also will be asked to allow some of the

$34.3 million approved for sewer system bonding to be spent to extend a sewer

line from Sandy Hook Center to Newtown High School.

In May, the WPCA approved extending a sewer line from Sandy Hook Center to the

high school provided that the proposal gains approval at a town meeting and

from the school board. School officials have endorsed providing the high

school with sewer service.

Earlier this year, in connection with the school system's $25-million plan to

expand Newtown High School, the DEP learned that some domestic water wells off

Oakview Road contained water with higher than acceptable nitrate levels,

posing health hazards. Oakview Road is a residential road west of the high

school.

The DEP has maintained that the high school's septic system has caused the

well water contamination.

Town officials, however, while acknowledging that the high school septic

system probably contributes to the pollution problem, point out that the area

is the site of a former septage lagoon and landfill. School athletic field

fertilization and the keeping of horses in the area also are thought to be

contributing factors to the nitrate pollution problem.

The high school expansion project then appeared to be in jeopardy due to the

pollution problems.

But after negotiations with the town, the state agreed to let the high school

expansion project proceed, provided that the town agreed to extend a sewer

line to the high school or build a wastewater treatment plant at the high

school to remove nitrates from the high school wastewater.

The estimated cost for a sewer line extension to the high school is about

$550,000 to $600,000, according to Fuss and O'Neill, the town's consulting

engineers for the sewering project. A pumping station to move sewage from the

high school to the sewer system also would be needed.

The town is under a state pollution abatement order to rectify longstanding

groundwater pollution problems in the Borough, Taunton Pond North, and Sandy

Hook Center. The sewering project is intended to provide a permanent water

pollution solution.

The local share of the $34.3-million sewer project is about $17 million. The

$17 million will come from sewer assessment charges and general taxation. The

remainder of the money comes from state and federal sources.