The final week of the year brought Newtown’s Water and Sewer Authority together for a brief meeting to discuss proposed changes in regulations to both local sewer use regulations and the community’s water pollution control plan.

After some discussion on December 29, the authority approved sending the proposed changes to a public hearing on January 8. The time and location of the hearing was not set at press time.

Authority and Public Works Director Fred Hurley said many of the proposed changes are procedural.

“We’ve gone and metered the daily usage flow in our plant so we know what we are using versus what was projected,” Mr Hurley said. “We also looked at all properties, and had a number of requests for usage from commercial developments that had paid for capacity through a special benefit assessment, even if they were vacant, or had existing requests [based on projected usage from previous tenants or occupants].

“So we deducted that from our permanent capacity and then decided we needed an environmental buffer leaving an available amount for people who want to make additional requests,” he added.

The WSA director said while proposed changes to the Water Pollution Control Plan only apply to the Central or Borough District, the proposed Sewer Use Regulations apply to all properties in town.

“Up to now, we found the regulations were too general — or not specific enough,” Mr Hurley said. “The proposed language definitely tightens up our criteria for review.”

 The proposed changes and additions also better align the local authority to state environmental requirements, as well as federal EPA permitting for the operation of the town’s water pollution control plant.

Beside some minor language changes or enhancements, the major change to the sewer use plan involves a proposed new section defining the word “unit.” For the purpose of defining capacity requirements for the sewage system relative to a new applicant, or extension to the existing system, a unit is defined as:

*185 gallons per day (gpd) for a single-family residential home;

*125 gpd for a trailer or attached multifamily dwelling;

*110 gpd for senior attached housing; and

*for commercial and industrial flows, industry standard flow estimates will be utilized and shall be expressed in units or fractions of units.

The major amendment to the water pollution control plan involves replacing a table containing prioritized allocations by type of development, with new language that defines:

*existing average metered capacity usage as of November 1, 2014, at 267,000 gpd;

*previously allocated requests for Sandy Hook Elementary School, paid assessments, along with pending and existing allocation requests of 31,630 gpd;

*a reserve environmental buffer of three percent of capacity or 332,000 gpd, leaving;

*unallocated capacity available on a “first come, first served” basis within the approved sewer service area of 23,410 gpd

There is also proposed added language defining that “no Sewer Service Area has been established for the Hawleyville area. The Hawleyville Sewerage System serves individual properties and may be extended for economic development approved by the Town and the [authority].”

After some deliberation, additional changes proposed by WSA member Richard Zang will be presented for consideration during the January 8 public hearing. Among Mr Zang’s suggestions for the sewer use regulations is defining that there is only one Sewer Service Area in the community.

He also suggested for the pollution control plan, that the authority change language defining the Fairfield Hills sewer service area to “a portion of the Fairfield Hills campus.”

“It’s a simpler and more definitive process, so we’ll have to see how it works,” Mr Hurley said.

The final week of the year brought Newtown’s Water and Sewer Authority together for a brief meeting to discuss proposed changes in regulations to both local sewer use regulations and the community’s water pollution control plan.

After some discussion on December 29, the authority approved sending the proposed changes to a public hearing on January 8. The time and location of the hearing was not set at press time.

Authority and Public Works Director Fred Hurley said many of the proposed changes are procedural.

“We’ve gone and metered the daily usage flow in our plant so we know what we are using versus what was projected,” Mr Hurley said. “We also looked at all properties, and had a number of requests for usage from commercial developments that had paid for capacity through a special benefit assessment, even if they were vacant, or had existing requests [based on projected usage from previous tenants or occupants].

“So we deducted that from our permanent capacity and then decided we needed an environmental buffer leaving an available amount for people who want to make additional requests,” he added.

The WSA director said while proposed changes to the Water Pollution Control Plan only apply to the Central or Borough District, the proposed Sewer Use Regulations apply to all properties in town.

“Up to now, we found the regulations were too general — or not specific enough,” Mr Hurley said. “The proposed language definitely tightens up our criteria for review.”

 The proposed changes and additions also better align the local authority to state environmental requirements, as well as federal EPA permitting for the operation of the town’s water pollution control plant.

Beside some minor language changes or enhancements, the major change to the sewer use plan involves a proposed new section defining the word “unit.” For the purpose of defining capacity requirements for the sewage system relative to a new applicant, or extension to the existing system, a unit is defined as:

*185 gallons per day (gpd) for a single-family residential home;

*125 gpd for a trailer or attached multifamily dwelling;

*110 gpd for senior attached housing; and

*for commercial and industrial flows, industry standard flow estimates will be utilized and shall be expressed in units or fractions of units.

The major amendment to the water pollution control plan involves replacing a table containing prioritized allocations by type of development, with new language that defines:

*existing average metered capacity usage as of November 1, 2014, at 267,000 gpd;

*previously allocated requests for Sandy Hook Elementary School, paid assessments, along with pending and existing allocation requests of 31,630 gpd;

*a reserve environmental buffer of three percent of capacity or 332,000 gpd, leaving;

*unallocated capacity available on a “first come, first served” basis within the approved sewer service area of 23,410 gpd

There is also proposed added language defining that “no Sewer Service Area has been established for the Hawleyville area. The Hawleyville Sewerage System serves individual properties and may be extended for economic development approved by the Town and the [authority].”

After some deliberation, additional changes proposed by WSA member Richard Zang will be presented for consideration during the January 8 public hearing. Among Mr Zang’s suggestions for the sewer use regulations is defining that there is only one Sewer Service Area in the community.

He also suggested for the pollution control plan, that the authority change language defining the Fairfield Hills sewer service area to “a portion of the Fairfield Hills campus.”

“It’s a simpler and more definitive process, so we’ll have to see how it works,” Mr Hurley said.