Was it just a few nights ago that the debate on the city budget swirled around the issue of infrastructure and flooding? Mother nature sure provided irrefutable evidence that the many decisions to ignore infrastructure comes at great expense. Sure, Norwalk was not alone in flood problems, all through the state, low lying areas near rivers and lakes experienced floods, just like Norwalk, er wait. The difference in Norwalk flooding stems from storm water drainage and sewer system backups. In other words, a solvable problem. And Common Council Member Bill Krummel-D summarized in an op-ed piece, City’s infrastructure needs maintenance, that appeared in The Hour:
Storm drains, catch basins, sewers, pipes — these are only a few of the elements of what is called the infrastructure. The infrastructure: A web of pipes, drains, mains, laterals, cables, roads, power and telephone lines, sewage treatment, garbage and trash removal and processing, and all the services and operations required to maintain, improve, build and rebuild, above and below ground. And all the numbers; feet of this and miles of that, make for a mind numbing description of the web. This is the web that supports our “Quality of Life” and our most important asset — our homes.And it is expensive. And it has been the target of budget cutting for many years and the infrastructure is showing the symptoms of past inadequate funding. One of the first victims is preventive maintenance. The systematic, scheduled, replacement and maintenance of the elements of the system, done today saves tomorrow’s major cost and upheaval of the emergency repair.
So how long as this budgetary neglect been going on? Well, we know that Krummel has been on the council since 2001, so he must be talking about at least the past 5 years. Under the Knopp administration we know that the preference was to build speed bumps over fixing potholes. What other decisions were made that Krummel alludes too?
A major defense against a heavy rainfall is to divert the rainwater into the city’s 9,000 catch basins. These are regularly clogged with leaves, silt, and debris. The city has four vacuum trucks to clear this, but one is out of service and is to be junked. The other three, over 15 years old, are unreliable, and in and out of repair.
One new replacement was ordered a year ago and is expected momentarily. A second was ordered in the 2006-07 budget and will be here in November. Two more are requested in this year’s budget at $250K each, 10-month delivery. DPW operators to man the trucks are not always available since they are called upon to operate other equipment. To provide the regularly scheduled maintenance that meets state regulations assuring that the catch basins are clear requires a dedicated crew of vacuum truck operators. This but the beginning. This year Public Works spent $250K to clear many of the known obstructions in the drainage pipes.
So is Krummel saying that until the Moccia administration came along, there was no thought to maybe ordering these trucks before?
Does the city have the will to meet the basic needs of its residents? Preventive maintenance has to be coupled with long-range planning. You may be surprised to read that the city does not have the data to accurately pinpoint many locations of its drainage system so that it can quickly and efficiently respond to service and emergency calls, as well as plan for improvements.
The city has a GIS system showing exact locations of buildings and streets but lacks the overlay for the drainage system. The request for this work is $110K. Public Works hired consultants this year, $120K, to study the most pressing flood areas and report back with proposals for alleviation.
This effort needs to be expanded to other areas in the city to form the basis for a complete planning picture.
The start of the implementation of storm water drainage improvements to alleviate the flooding in only the areas so far identified is requested at almost $3 million for 2007-08 with $16 million is the estimate for the four years following, 2008-12.
We have touched on only one segment of the infrastructure. Everywhere we see similar challenges that need to be addressed. For one more example, consider solid waste disposal. The city is currently in a contract with the Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority, CRRA, which will expire at the end of 2008.
…Big jobs, big money for a city the size of Norwalk. It will not be brushed under the rug. To ignore the challenge is to put our city at risk.
Part of that brushing under the rug has been the inability of past Norwalk Common Councils to work towards getting things done for the city. Strangely it took a Republican Mayor and a Democratic Majority in the COuncil to actually start getting things done.
From the The Norwalk Advocate:
City Finance Director Thomas Hamilton also is recommending the city spend $4.2 million on flooding measures the following year.Alvord has requested $650,000 in next year’s capital budget to draw up plans and obtain a permit for a new 72-inch pipe from the Buckingham-Lockwood area to the Norwalk River.
Another $3.5 million would be needed to install the pipe, Alvord said.
He also has requested $350,000 to improve storm drainage in East Norwalk at Olmstead Place and Fitch Street, and $325,000 for drainage improvements around Noah Lane.
Hamilton has included the Buckingham-Lockwood and Olmstead-Fitch projects in his recommended capital budget, but not the Noah Lane work.
Funds to maintain the existing system also are critical to staving off flooding, Alvord said.
“It is a common belief that all we have to do is put in a bigger pipe. That’s not the solution. There are pieces in the capital and operating budgets that are key to maintaining the storm drainage system,” he said.
Alvord has requested $500,000 in next year’s capital budget for two pump trucks and another $500,000 in the operating budget to keep drains and pipes clean.
Spending money on maintaining and improving the existing systems will never have a ground swelling of public support. The squeakier wheels will always be the visible ones. But Norwalk is facing tough times for its’ ancient infrastructure, and its good to see that some get it:
Common Council President Michael Coffey said City Hall received more than 100 calls before 9 a.m. yesterday about flooding.“We need to update and maintain and improve our infrastructure. At a time like this, we need to make this more of a priority,” he said. “When you see that our storm drainage system is not working properly, when we have storms and have a number of residents with tremendous flooding issues, we need to target this as a priority.”
Source: The Hour, City’s infrastructure needs maintenance, By Bill Krummel, March 3, 2007
Source: The Norwalk Advocate, Heavy rains strain drains Flooding reported all over city, By John Nickerson, March 3, 2007
