Bethel voters approve $12.3M for water treatment project
BETHEL — Funding for the proposed Bergstrom Well and Water Treatment Plant project passed by a 357 to 154 vote during Thursday’s referendum.
The plant — which will allow the town to replace the subsurface water used for its water system with well water — will be located near the intersection of Plumtrees and Walnut Hill roads, with construction expected to start in spring and take about two years to complete.
Of the roughly $12.3 million needed for the project, nearly $10 million would be for construction, roughly $1.8 million for professional services, about $499,000 for contingency and $16,000 for legal fees.
Not all Bethel taxpayers — only those who get town water — will bear the cost, according to Acting First Selectman Rich Straiton, who said there are about 3,500 town water users in Bethel.
With the town applying for over $3 million in grants that will help lower the cost, Straiton has said it’s not yet known how much their water rates will go up.
The project is part of a 30-year capital improvement plan that the town embarked on after voters rejected a proposal to sell Bethel’s water system to Aquarion in 2013. Since then, the
town has built two new storage tanks, drilled two new wells, refurbished a couple of existing ones and renovated virtually every pump system.
The Bergstrom well will produce 800 gallons
of water a minute, according to Straiton, who said the water will be “much more suitable for the public water supply” than the subsurface water that’s currently used.
“Well water is much better than subsurface
waters from reservoirs,” he said last month, noting that wells provide “a more constant source of water” compared to reservoirs, which can yield drastically lower amounts of water during periods of drought.