Ansonia has reached the point where it is no longer paying fines for the amount of nitrogen its waste water treatment plant dumps into the Naugatuck River.
In 2011, the city was actually able to make money in a nitrogen credit exchange program run by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The city sold $66,273 in nitrogen credits in 2011, city officials announced this week in a press release.
“We built a state of art facility and have achieved our goal of reducing our operating costs,” Mayor James Della Volpe said in a press release. “This is not only a win for Ansonia, but a win in our goal of continuing to go green and preserving our environment.”
Nitrogen Credit Program
In 2001 Connecticut and New York developed a joint program to reduce the amount of nitrogen flowing into the Long Island Sound.
The nitrogen credit program was started in the state to push water pollution control authorities to improve their plants to stop discharging so much nitrogen into the water.
Excess levels of nitrogen — coming in large part from waste water treatment plants in both states — created an environment that was not able to support health populations of fish and shellfish, according to reports on the program by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Click here for the DEEP website about the program.
So both states decided to mandate reduced levels of nitrogen unloaded from waste water treatment plants. Connecticut’s goal was a 64 percent reduction in nitrogen levels by 2014, according to the DEEP reports.
Waste water treatment plants were given maximum levels of nitrogen they could unload each year.
If they went over, they had to purchase nitrogen credits from the state. If they stayed under the level, they could sell credits, receiving money for each pound below the limit they fell.
The price per pound increased each year from 2003 onward.
And the limits for how much nitrogen could be dumped decreased.
So it got more expensive to dump the same amount of nitrogen — prompting municipalities to find ways to become more efficient.
Ansonia’s Plant
In Ansonia, the rising cost of dumping nitrogen prompted the city to build a new waste water treatment plant — at a price tag of $36 million.
Ansonia, in a 2003 report on the need for a new waste water treatment plant, estimated that without a new plant it would be paying $380,000 a year in nitrogen credit costs in 2010.
They figured that number would jump to $720,000 a year in 2014, based on the rising cost of nitrogen credits.
From 2003 to 2010, Ansonia was paying any where from $50,000 to $150,000 a year for the credits, according to state DEEP reports.
Cost of Nitrogen Credits for Ansonia
2010: $52,757
2009: $149,885
2008: $133,157
2007: $100,226
2006: $101,439
2005: $60,888
2004: No data available
2003: $49,194
In 2011, for the first time Ansonia did no have to purchase the credits. Instead, they made money — $66,273 — by selling credits.
“Selling credits is what happens when you build a state of art facility which the WPCA was mandated to build by the Jodi Rell administration,” WPCA Chairman, Gary Merlone said. “We are the only community in the Lower Naugatuck Valley that is selling Nitrogen Credits.”
Ansonia’s limit was 126 pounds of nitrogen per day. The facility discharged an average of 76 pounds per day.
The city expects to continue selling credits with its more efficient plant.
Residents are paying for the $36 million loan through an additional sewer assessment of about $285 a year.
