A Cleaner Connecticut River is Up to You

There are two types of sewer systems: combined sewers and separated sewers.  Combined sewers carry both sanitary waste and stormwater together in one pipe to the treatment plant.  Separated sewers have separate pipes: one carrying sanitary waste to the treatment plant and one carrying stormwater to a stream or river without treatment.  Combined sewers are designed to overflow when they get too full.  That overflow bypasses the treatment plant and the waste flows into the nearest river or stream.  One billion gallons of raw sewage goes into our rivers each year from the greater Hartford area.

Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are a major source of stream pollution in most older cities.  Ironically, they are also a heritage of society's early efforts to reduce stream pollution.  But now in Hartford and the surrounding towns much of the 270 miles of underground pipe dates back to the Civil War era.  Old pipes don’t work properly and need to be replaced and improved.  Cities and towns around the country have been working to upgrade their outdated systems and protect their environment.  Inadequately treated sewage harbors bacteria such as E.coli and fecal coliform bacteria, viruses, nitrogen, ammonia, toxic chemicals, and other pollutants.  The risk of getting sick by swimming in waters directly adjacent to an outfall of partially treated sewage is 50% but when sewage is properly treated, that number decreases dramatically to .1%.  High bacterial levels affect water quality 15-30 miles downstream of CSO points – as far south as Haddam.  (Hartford is about 45-49 river miles upstream of the mouth.)  Bacteria levels after a CSO event remain elevated for 3-5 days.

Click here to view a map of communities from Hartford to Haddam, CT impacted by raw sewage overflows.

The Clean Water Project has 4 main components:
1. Separate pipes and upgrade old pipes
2. Add storage capacity for high flows during rain events
3. Upgrade treatment plants
4. Improve systems to keep “clean” stormwater out of the sewer pipes

For more information about this: www.thecleanwaterproject.com/

In order to pay for the Clean Water Project, MDC is seeking federal and state money but they are also holding a bond referendum on November 7, 2006.  At the referendum, residents of Hartford, West Hartford, East Hartford, Bloomfield, Newington, Windsor, Rocky Hill and Wethersfield will have the opportunity to vote on this issue.  The cost will be $800 million for Phase I spread among all MDC’s customers with state and federal money covering about half. 
           
This important project to clean up the Connecticut River will require us all to work together: residents of all 8 District towns, the MDC, state and federal government, and advocacy groups. 

CRWC has been working on the CSO issue for a long time– most recently we helped defeat EPA’s proposed ruling that sewage blending be allowed.  That means untreated sewage would be allowed to be mixed with treated sewage and released directly into the river during wet weather events.  Basically this sanctioned what was already going on due to unsatisfactory infrastructure because EPA could no longer provide funds for helping communities fix their problems.  CRWC also helped MDC pass a bond in 1990 for $80 million which led to many improvements – particularly in East Hartford and Newington.