Norwalk officials: Concerns over sewage system plan are unfounded

FILE PHOTO: One of final settling tanks the Water Pollution Control Authority plant at 60 South Smith St. in Norwalk Conn. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection issued an order for Norwalk to develop a Sanitary Sewer Collection System Master Plan by the end of September.

NORWALK — Local officials say concerns the city wasn't cooperating with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's order to update the water quality systems are misconstrued.

A consent order was issued by DEEP, unanimously approved by the Water Pollution Control Authority in April and signed by Mayor Harry Rilling on May 5, city spokesperson Michelle Woods Matthews said.

The consent order calls for the city to develop a Sanitary Sewer Collection System Master Plan by the end of September.

Woods Matthews said the proceedings were routine and a matter of public discourse, not meant to be kept private or shielded from the public.

"The consent order was regularly discussed at the Water Pollution Control Authority's board meetings in executive session in the fall of 2021 and at its January, March and April 2022 meetings," Woods Matthews said. "Additionally, public notice was provided, and a public hearing was held concerning the WPCA's treatment plant permit renewal, which discussed the concepts memorialized in the consent order. The consent order specifically includes two studies that the WPCA planned to complete as a regular course of business, based on its collection systems and facility master plans."

The consent order stems from a renewal of the city's wastewater treatment permit, which was approved by DEEP in April 2021, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents.

The permit was applied for in 2020 and is set to expire at the end of March 2026, which is the standard timeline for such permits, Woods Matthews said.

"To clarify, within the consent order, the state does not prescribe a total cost to the city. The WPCA's obligation is to complete a study regarding its collection system and a study regarding its treatment facility," Woods Matthews said. "The WPCA routinely evaluates infrastructure and plans for needed future investments. Once these studies are complete, capital upgrades will be recommended and projected, and costs will be outlined."

The WPCA is an enterprise fund, meaning that its costs and obligations are met through user fees, which have remained consistent over time, Woods Matthews said. In addition to a strong capital reserve, the WPCA recently developed a financial forecasting tool to assist with appropriately planning for infrastructure upgrades.

The consent order deals with continual sewage spills in the city, according to environmental advocacy agency Save the Sound. In July, the organization shared a statement addressing the consent order and its involvement.

DEEP's required the city to develop and implement plans to study and remove excess flow from the collection system within five years, eliminate an non-permitted emergency overflow outfall within five years and either provide primary treatment to a permitted sewage overflow outfall or eliminate use of that outfall within 10 years, according to Save the Sound.

"Raw sewage is frequently discharged from multiple sewer overflow outfalls in Norwalk without any of the required treatment," the statement read. "We participated in permit proceedings to highlight these problems and the infiltration, inflow, and sewage pipe maintenance issues that cause them."

Other residents were upset by the lack of transparency in the water treatment planning process, as the mayor's Water Quality Committee wasn't made aware of the order and drafting of a master plan until this month when it was discussed during the Committee's Aug. 4 meeting, Committee member Diane Lauricella said.

"It just appears that something didn't happen fast enough or didn't happen, so they felt an order would be the best way to move these issues along and to get a guarantee from the city that they are finally going to fix the screens," Lauricella said. "If two out of five (microscreen treatments) weren't working, how loud or vigorous was the request to replace them? I’m sure if the mayor or Common Council knew the seriousness of the issues, they would’ve seen fit to fix it sooner."

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