Date: Fri 25-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Apple-Blossom-contamination

Full Text:

Another Month's Delay For Water Contamination Clean-Up

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Residents of the Apple Blossom Lane area learned this week that the plan to

solve the water contamination problem in their neighborhood won't go to the

State Bond Commission for funding until at least May.

Health District Director Mark A.R. Cooper said the State Department of

Environmental Protection (DEP) still wanted a few minor revisions to be made

to the version of the plan which First Selectman Bob Cascella approved on

March 31.

"I don't know what the changes involve," Mr Cooper said. "I asked Jonathon

Goldman at the DEP but I still haven't received a fax explaining the changes."

The DEP must approve the plan before it will be submitted to the bond

commission for funding. Design of the project is expected to require three to

four months to complete and construction is expected to take an additional

four to six months.

Donald Ferris of 62 Apple Blossom Lane attended the Newtown Health District

meeting on Monday to ask about the status of the project.

"It's taking a lot longer than we were told it would," he complained. "I think

somebody is dragging their heels."

"The final plan had better be water mains - I won't be satisfied with

filters," Mr Ferris said. "And if it doesn't get to the bond commission in

April or May, it won't get done by December."

"It will be tight," Mr Cooper agreed.

At a meeting last September in Newtown, residents of the Apple Blossom Lane

area were told the plan probably would reach the State Bond 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).

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

proposed. The plan now recommended by SEA is estimated at a 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 Apple Blossom

Lane 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 Apple Blossom, the report recommended that service taps be

installed to enable these homeowners to connect to the line in the future at

their own expense.

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.