Date: Fri 18-Jul-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-lines-Oakview-DEP-WPCA

Full Text:

Trumbull Contractor Will Get High School Sewer Extension Job

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) has approved hiring Trumbull

Construction of Trumbull to extend sewer lines from Sandy Hook Center to

Newtown High School and Oakview Road.

WPCA members have endorsed spending $735,000 for the sewer extension project.

Initially, the WPCA had endorsed hiring CFL, Inc, for the sewer extension work

at $765,000. But added research into bids submitted on the project indicated

that Trumbull Construction is the "lowest qualified responsive bidder,"

resulting in the WPCA endorsing its hiring.

The recommendation to hire Trumbull Construction came from the town attorney,

town finance director, the town public works director, and Fuss and O'Neill,

Inc, the town's consulting engineer for the sewering project.

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is reviewing the town's

selection of Trumbull Construction for the project, Fred Hurley, the town's

director of public works, said Wednesday.

In June, the town received ten sealed bids for the sewer line extension

project ranging from $735,000 to $1.087 million. The engineering estimate for

the project was $830,000.

Approximately 4,000 feet of sewer main will link the high school to Sandy Hook

Center. Wastewater draining from the high school to the center will then flow

to a sewage pumping station on Glen Road from which it will be boosted to the

sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road for discharge into the Pootatuck

River.

Besides installing gravity-powered sewers to serve the high school, workmen

will install a low-pressure sewer line along Oakview Road to serve houses

there. Those homes will use grinder pumps to avoid the need to build a sewage

pumping station.

Work on the project is expected to begin by the first half of August and be

completed before winter, Mr Hurley said.

It was the discovery of elevated nitrate levels in well water at several

Oakview Road homes which prompted the town to plan sewers for the apparently

malfunctioning septic system at the nearby high school. Drinking water with

high nitrate levels can pose health risks.

The WPCA decided last fall to have Fuss and O'Neill design the sewer

transmission line for the high school provided that the DEP okayed using

federal Clean Water Fund grant money for the project.

Board of Education members, who are concerned that the high school's

28-year-old septic system is on the decline, last year unanimously endorsed

having a sewer line extended to the school.

School board members have agreed that the alternatives to a sewer system

connection, such as building an on-site sewage treatment plant at the school

or completely rebuilding the school's septic system, would be prohibitively

expensive.

DEP officials have maintained that a malfunctioning high school septic system

caused the well water contamination. While town officials have acknowledged

that the high school septic system probably contributes to the nitrate

problem, they point out that the area is in the vicinity of a former landfill

and septage lagoon. The fertilization of school athletic fields and horses

kept in the area also are thought to be contributing factors to the nitrate

contamination problem.

The town is under a DEP pollution abatement order to rectify groundwater

pollution problems posed by failing septic systems. The $34.3-million sewer

system designed to correct the pollution is scheduled to go into operation in

September.