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The ongoing study is scheduled to be discussed at 1 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 11) during a meeting at Seymour Town Hall on First Street. A press release is posted at the bottom of this post.
Dunne is the executive director of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. The organization is administering a grant studying whether it makes financial sense to merge or consolidate (in some way) five sewer systems in the Naugatuck Valley.
Taxpayers in individual towns are responsible for funding sewer systems — the pipes, the pumping stations and the main sewage plants. It can be expensive, as Derby residents learned earlier this year when they received the first bills for $31 million in sewer repairs happening in that city.
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Part of the study includes figuring out how much it will cost to keep the systems going separately through 2040 — and how that dollar amount compares to a regionalized system.
There are some 24 “alternatives” on the table right now. Those options will be whittled down in the coming year.
Dunne also talks about his organization’s involvement in the Route 34 widening project in downtown Derby — and why four buildings that were supposed to be taken down are still standing.
Here’s the press release from NVCOG on the wastewater study:
“The Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments will hold the second stakeholder workshop for the Regional Wastewater Treatment Consolidation Study on Tuesday, December 11 at 1 p.m. in the Norma Drummer Room of Seymour Town Hall, 1 1st St, Seymour, CT. The meeting is open to the public.
The study, which began in April 2018, is analyzing wastewater treatment plants in the municipalities of Naugatuck, Beacon Falls, Seymour, Ansonia and Derby for potential consolidation and/or the sharing of services. The study is designed to provide potential recommendations to mitigate costs and to mitigate capital expenditures that will be required for upgrades to the wastewater treatment plants located in these communities. It is also intended to set an example for other communities throughout Connecticut in consolidating plants and reducing costs.
Study consultant Black & Veatch will lead the workshop, which will include an analysis of existing wastewater treatment facilities and collection system infrastructures, as well as necessary operation upgrades needed through 2040. The workshop will also provide a long list of wastewater regionalization alternatives that have initial merit.”
