WPCA Making Progress on Sewer System Updates

 
The new wet well at the Burtville Avenue pump station was lowered into place on May 10. Click here to see how it was done.

The city's Water Pollution Control Authority is making major progress on the city's aging infrastructure. In 2014, voters approved a $31.2 million sewer repair referendum. The funds are to be used for repairs and updates to the city's main plant and pumping stations.

The city has over 40 miles of sewer piping throughout the city and some dates back more than a century. Sewage flows through the pipes with the assistance of several pumping stations to the sewage treatment plant at 1 Caroline Street. The sewage is then treated before being safely discharged into the river.


Google Photo of the plant from the Valley Independent Sentinel

Since the referendum took place, the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments has received a grant to do a regional study to determine the feasibility of interconnecting, merging and/or abandoning wastewater treatment facilities in the Naugatuck Valley region along the Naugatuck River, located in Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Derby, Naugatuck and Seymour. Until that study is complete, the WPCA's planning for Derby's main plant is on hold.

However other work is underway with a large focus on the three pump stations that need to be replaced. Construction of new facilities on South Division Street is underway and design is now in progress for the larger Roosevelt Drive pump station now that the site has been chosen adjacent to the existing station.

The work on the new stations on South Division Street and Burtville Avenue is advancing rapidly, and the work will be complete by the end of the summer. A lot of site work has already been completed, and the new "wet well" for the Burtville Avenue station was put in place on May 10.

Planning is also well underway for the design of the Rt. 34 project along Main Street which includes major upgrades to the sewers in that area. There will be a very important presentation by the Department of Transportation on Monday, May 22 at Derby City Hall to address the plans that they are working on. Click here to read more.

The WPCA is jointly working with an Infrastructure Oversight Committee of the Board of Aldermen to keep the projects on schedule and on budget.

The WPCA is also making progress on a compliance order agreed to with the US Environmental Protection Agency back in 2016 covering previous problems at the plant. The WPCA is up to date on all the requirements of the plan and continues to work on improving the safe and efficient operation of the system.


Story posted on May 11, 2017


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