Water Plan Moving Forward in Durham, Residents Raise Concerns

A proposal to bring clean water from Middletown to Durham residents impacted by industrial groundwater contamination brought out a small crowd to Coginchaug High School on Thursday night.

At the public meeting, Anni Loughlin, the Environmental Protection Agency's project manager for the Durham Meadows Superfund Site, described in detail the progress of the agency's environmental cleanup at the site as well as plans to begin work next week on the design phase of the water supply extension.

Federal, state and local officials will work together to design a water main that would extend from southern Middletown into the center of Durham and service about 100 homes in the designated Superfund area, located around the sites of the former Merriam Manufacturing Company and Durham Manufacturing Company on Main Street.

"Both of these companies used a lot of different kinds of solvents. Their activity basically predated any sort of environmental regulation at all so the practice at the time was when you had waste like that you dug a pit in the backyard and you dumped it all in there," Loughlin said in describing the cause of the contamination. 

"Of course we know today that's a terrible practice," she said.

Currently about 50 homeowners whose groundwater is polluted with those solvents, known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, must filter their water using carbon filters provided for and serviced by the state. Private wells within the Superfund area are also regularly monitored by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The initial discovery of the contamination was made back in 1982. In 2003 and 2004, tests revealed the presence of 1,4-dioxane, a compound known to have negative health risks, at two dozen sites in the Superfund area which borders Talcott Lane to the north and Allyn Brook to the south, and Brick Lane to the east and properties along Maple Avenue to the west.

1,4-dioxane is not easily captured by the carbon filters so the impacted homeowners are provided bottled water for drinking, Loughlin said.

"The risk from these solvents is basically ingestion of contaminated ground water," she said. "We have a lot of different solvents in the private wells in that area. Basically, it's everywhere." 

Last spring, the EPA completed the clean up of the former Merriam Manufacturing site, which included the properties at 281 and 275 Main Street, by removing 58,000 tons of contaminated soil and replacing it with organic backfill. The property is currently for sale.

The EPA is in talks with Durham Manufacturing over an environmental clean up at the company located at 201 Main Street, Loughlin said.

Other Contamination Areas and Project Cost

Through a feasibility study and environmental impact evaluation, officials have identified nine areas of the town where groundwater is contaminated, which includes the Superfund area. 

The sources of the contamination, however, vary from petroleum to bacteria and Loughlin stressed that the EPA's involvement with the water main project would focus primarily on delivering clean water to customers within the Superfund site.

"However, we didn't want to hamstring these other areas by putting in a water main that was sized only to address the Superfund site," she said, "so what we are going to try to commit to do is to basically have our extension to the site include the capacity to serve every one of these areas."

While homeowners within the Superfund area would not face any initial financial obligation for connecting to the water supply, residents outside of the area would have to pay for the connection, according to officials.

In addition to providing clean drinking water to homes, the project would be designed to provide property owners along the water extension route with fire protection.

Funding for the project, the cost of which is currently estimated at about $10 million, would come entirely from the federal and state level, Loughlin said. The project will not move beyond the design phase, which expected to be complete sometime next year, until funding is secured, she said.

Last year, the EPA reached a settlement with Merriam Manufacturing, Aztec Industries and the estate of Allan Adams which allowed the agency to recover about $1.2 million to help pay for the clean up. Settlement negotiations with Durham Manufacturing are ongoing, Loughlin said, although she pointed out that settlements would provide only a portion of the project's total cost.

The design phase of the project should be completed by early next year at which time officials will hold another public meeting before making a request for funding.

Drilling Work to Begin Monday

Starting Monday, crews will begin work at the site of a proposed water storage tank along Talcott Ridge Drive in Middletown. Preliminary drilling work along the proposed route of the pipeline is also necessary to determine its exact location, Loughlin explained.

The drilling work will continue, she said, for about two weeks and be noticeable to residents in the area of the proposed pipeline, along Route 17. The work will take place between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Later this month, the EPA will also begin survey work of the properties within the Superfund area to determine where utilities, wells and other underground equipment is located. Property owners have been notified of the work through a request for access which Loughlin said must be signed by property owners before any survey work can be completed at a property.

"The survey work is non invasive. We're not going to be digging, we're not going to be entering your homes. This is just the very first step for us," she said.

The survey work will be performed between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. 

Pipeline Concerns

A handful of residents at the meeting expressed their reservations over the proposed pipeline, which included concern over the cost of water and the impact the work might have on property values. 

Main Street property owner Jake Schilling, who grew up on Main Street while both companies were still in business, asked officials whether it was fair to ask homeowners in the Superfund area to pay for the water when their wells were polluted by the companies.

"$25-40, pick a number, that we all will pay for water [per month]. Much appreciated, it's better than what I drank for 60 years," he said. "Why should that cost even be absorbed?"

Frank DeFelice, whose Cherry Lane home is outside of the proposed water project, asked officials whether homeowners living within the Superfund area would be subject to a property deed notice if they refused to connect to the pipeline.

In her experience, Loughlin responded, deed notices had only been filed with cooperation from homeowners. 

Patrick Bowe, Director of DEEP's Remediation Division further stated that the state is not able to subject homeowners to deed notices but in cases where a "large remedy [is] being implemented" the state has worked with towns to adopt a special zone.

"That [information] would be available to anybody in the future who might be interested in buying a home in the area," he said.

Bowe also responded to DeFelice's question as to whether or not homeowners whose properties were located along the water extension but not within the designated water contamination area would be able to hook up to the pipeline.

"Basically, if you have a water line going past your property, in general, in Connecticut, you do have the right to make that hookup unless there is a very specific restraint imposed when that water line is built," Bowe said.

Other concerns centered on whether the city of Middletown had the capacity to provide water to Durham and whether further testing would be provided to determine the extent of groundwater contamination in areas around the Superfund site.

"We have a pretty good handle on where this contamination is, what we need to do to address it and we're doing that now," Loughlin said.

Anyone with questions about the project may contact Anni Loughlin at loughlin.anni@epa.gov. Contact information is also provided in the attachment.