Date: Fri 05-Dec-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-hook-up-Whitten

Full Text:

Sewer Hook-Ups Begin Despite Cold Temperatures

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Some people in the sewer district are beginning to connect their properties to

the town sewer system. Three large properties are already hooked up -- Newtown

Shopping Center, Walnut Tree Village, and The Mary Hawley Inn.

Scattered residential properties also are starting to connect, according to

John Whitten, senior field representative for Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, the

town's consulting engineers. Mr Whitten is the chief inspector for sewer

connections.

People with the greatest interest in connecting now are those who have failing

septic systems and want to correct those failures immediately.

Technically, the town is in the "winter shutdown" period for sewer connection

work, but people who have received notices to connect to the sewers may do so,

if they choose. The state-sanctioned shutdown period runs from December 1 to

March 31.

Property owners on Main Street, Church Hill Road, and Queen Street recently

received notices that they have four months to connect. However, their

connection deadline is officially suspended during the winter shutdown and

will resume when the shutdown is over.

People who want to get their properties connected to the sewer system may

obtain the paperwork for the job, called an "application to connect," from the

town's public works department on Turkey Hill Road. The department maintains a

list of qualified drain layers who are licensed to connect sewer lines.

Property owners may then contact the drain layers for multiple cost estimates.

If a property owner must have repiping work done within a building to connect

to the sewers, then a building permit also is needed for the work, Mr Whitten

said.

Depending on the complexity of a given sewer hookup, the work may cost between

$1,000 and $3,000, according to Tom Anderson, owner of T&C Excavation. Each

sewer connection is unique, he said.

To facilitate sewer connections, when the sewer system was built during the

past three years, sewer connection stubs were extended onto individual

properties. Sewer hook-up contractors will dig down to those stubs, uncap

them, and extend sewer hook-up lines to buildings.

Extensive ledge may require blasting, boosting the price of a sewer

connection.

Sometimes sewer connections may be made at the front of a building. Other

times, it is necessary to connect sewer lines to the rear of a building.

Sewer trenching may extend from seven to 14 feet below ground level, depending

on the particular hook-up, Mr Anderson said. Sewer pipes extending to

buildings are six inches in diameter.

Besides connecting the sewer system to buildings, town regulations require

that existing septic systems be emptied of their contents, crushed, and then

filled in with soil or stone, depending upon ground conditions.

It is expected that most buildings will be connected to the sewer system

starting next spring and into next summer.

A sewer hook-up charge is separate from sewer assessment charges and sewer

usage charges.

About 820 properties in the sewer district have access to sewers. The town is

under a longstanding state order to resolve groundwater pollution problems

caused by failing septic systems. The $32.5 million sewer project has been

built as a permanent solution to the groundwater pollution problems.