Removing Nitrogen from waste water is the issue, and Norwalk needs to upgrade its water treatment plant in order to handle more volume more efficiently. In the works has been financial assistance in the form of a grant and low cost loan to make the upgrades to the plant. With 2009 dollars ready to be allocated from the State Clean Water Fund, DPW Director Hal Alvord is leaving nothing to chance. From the Hour:
On Tuesday, Lisa Bardon, Department of Public Works operations manager, will restate the city’s case for receiving the money for the two projects during a hearing before the DEP in Hartford.
“Lisa is going to Hartford to represent us just to make sure nothing gets changed as a result of the public hearing. The mayor is writing a letter to the DEP,” said Harold F. Alvord, director of public works. “It’s taken us four years to rebuild a relationship with DEP and hours of meetings with DEP to get them on board.”
State lawmakers have authorized $90 million in bonding for Clean Water Fund projects for each of the next two years. The municipal water pollution control projects are intended to improve water quality.
At stake for Norwalk is nearly $37 million in financial assistance for two major upgrades to the treatment plant off South Smith Street — the first major work on the plant since a $63-million overhaul in the late 1990s.“Everybody thinks we spent $63 million and got a whole new treatment system,” Alvord said. “What that $63 million bought was an additional 3 million gallons per day in capacity and the ability to remove nitrogen.”
The two new projects are intended to further modernize the plant and enable it to remove yet more nitrogen.
The Combined System Overflow/Weather Treatment Facility Upgrade, a $22,750,000 project, will replace the plant headworks — the portion of the facility that screens out grit — and increase storm-flow treatment.
Grant money will cover 30 percent of the project cost. A loan at 2-percent interest will cover the remaining 70 percent of the cost, according to Alvord.
The Low Level Nitrogen Removal project, estimated at $14 million, will increase plant’s nitrogen removal capacity. Grant money will cover half of the cost. A 2-percent loan will cover the other half, according to Alvord.
A study being done by engineering consultant Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. will spell out how best to improve the denitrification process, according to Alvord.
The DEP, when ranking municipal water pollution control projects, considers the impacts of such projects on potable water sources and the number of people affected.
For instance, projects affecting fewer than 5,000 people are accrued 2 points, whereas those affecting 75,000 or more people are worth 12 points. Likewise, projects impacting coastal areas are awarded more points than those impacting small, regional water basins.
Norwalk’s $14-million denitrification project is ranked at 40 points and stands at the top of the DEP’s draft list for receiving Clean Water Fund dollars in fiscal year 2009. The roughly $22-million headworks’ replacement project is ranked sixth on the list.
“Right now we have our project fundable for construction in fiscal year 2009. We have the highest priority points,” Bardon said. “I don’t see us getting knocked off the list, but if other communities come out to the public hearing, (anything could happen).”
Mayor Richard A. Moccia, in his letter to the DEP, cited the Camp Dresser engineering contract as evidence of the city’s commitment to upgrading the treatment plant.
source: The Hour, Norwalk aggressively pursuing 2009 dollars from Clean Water Fund, By Robert Koch, December 15, 2007
