The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
New federal funds boost clean water program
$3.4M grant to fund water system expansion after decades of pollution
DURHAM — Top local officials, residents and business owners met Thursday to laud the passage of $3.4 million in federal funding to expand the Durham center water system.
House members approved a package of spending bills with funding for community projects nationwide and historic investments in Connecticut, according to House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
Community Project Funding will pay for the connection of adjacent neigh
borhoods to the water system.
Collaboration between the municipalities was necessary for the project to come to fruition, Durham First Selectman Laura Francis told DeLauro at the water tower on Talcott Ridge Road in Middletown.
The funding was reinstated after a decade of water problems in the rural town, DeLauro said. Every municipality had a chance to propose projects, which were vetted through various agencies.
“It really has been an incredible experience,” the congresswoman said. “There had to be some demonstrable need, and there had to be proof of that.”
The Red Barn owner Don Mondani, LNJS Realty owner Leonard Rossicone, and homeowner Gene Brown, who lives on Maple Avenue, gathered at the Durham Pressure Reducing Vault at 385 Main St. as part of the visit.
Brown moved in 31 years ago, knowing the area was a Superfund site. “[His water] tested clean, but occasionally we had the Merriam [Manufacturing Co.] fire (in 1998) and the water started testing positive. It got cleaned up, but then we had a problem with gas stations.”
“The city water is important to me because I’ve lost wells ... my water is clean, but it’s low,” Mondani said. “Now I can expand my septic system, because I don’t have to worry about the wells and their radius. You have to stay a certain amount of feet away from wells.”
“I’ve got the same advantage,” said Rossicone, who owns 399 Main St., where Durham Fitness is located. “Hopefully, we’re going to have clean water,” he said. “We can get rid of the jugs of water in there, we don’t need the truck outside with the water feed we had years ago.
“It makes it so much easier for all the tenants,” he said.
About 73 businesses and residences will benefit from the connection, officials said.
“This tank has adequate capacity and the water main has adequate capacity that the city of Middletown and town of Durham have the opportunity to solve all their water problems in the area,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Remedial Project Manager Ed Hathaway said.
The water project is separate from work on the Superfund Site on Main Street, he said.
The water system, and tower at the end of Talcott Ridge Road in Middletown, services the southern portion of Durham using a well adjacent to the Durham Fairgrounds. For decades, properties in the center were polluted by toxic chemicals requiring filtering and monitoring, according to DeLauro’s office.
The project is funded by the EPA under its Superfund program and managed by the Army Corps of Engineers.
“We are so grateful that, in the approval process, we were allowed to size the system for growth,” Francis said.
The state conducted a feasibility study to examine other areas, she said.
“Fortunately, there’s enough water here — Middletown has enough excess supplies,” Francis added. “This is about as shovelready
as we’ve been. It’s safe, it’s reliable.”
Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim acknowledged there was a good deal of neighborhood controversy as a result of the project. “People had questions — sometimes serious questions — but it’s always very informative,” he said.
“It was uncomfortable while we were going through it, but now everything is fine,” Francis said.
Talcott Ridge residents have been “great” about the project, the first selectman said.
“While we have great pressure in Durham, we had to build a booster system that can actually provide pressure for up here for the residents of Middletown,” Hathaway said.
“We go all downhill to Durham, so if the pressure is related to the elevation difference, by the time we get to Durham, we have too much pressure,” he said. “How ironic.”
The tank is expected to be online by late October or early November, when the rest of the connections will be built through next summer and perhaps into the fall, Hathaway said.
“We’ve been waiting for it to come, so it’s terrific,” said Brown, who has been using potable water for decades. “It’ll be nice to not have to test anymore.”