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Oops, Sewage Dumps Into Sound


by turfgrrl


October 3rd, 2008 · 14 Comments

So let’s try to be understanding here, a contractor working on the Main ave. power line dig, henceforth referred to the death by 1000 road digs, hooked up a sewage pipe to the storm drain pipe and thus effuluent, which is just a 3 syllable way to say shit ‘n stuff, flowed out into the Long Island Sound. The Hour reports:

Sewage overflowed into the Norwalk River Thursday afternoon after a worker sub-contracted by CL&P incorrectly installed a sewer line on Main Street, according to the director of the Department of Public Works.

The worker — who was relocating a section of the city’s sewer line near the intersection of Main and Cross Streets as part of the Middletown-Norwalk transmission project — hooked a portion of the sewer line up to the storm drainage system instead of the sanitary sewer system, according to DPW Director Hal Alvord.

Some of the sewage was discharged from the storm drainage system near the Wall Street bridge into the Norwalk River.

“As soon as we found out about it, we shut them down and had him connect back into the sanitary sewer system,” Alvord said.

The DPW director could not confirm the exact time of the incident. The duration of time that passed between when the accident happened and when the DPW was informed of the incident is not known.

The amount of sewage that was spilled and its affect on the environment is also not known, but the state Department of Environmental Protection was informed of the matter and will likely investigate, according to Alvord.

“Once we make the report to the DEP, then the DEP is going to follow up with any action they think is appropriate,” he said.

Alvord said, while he is “not an expert” on the environmental impact of sewage spills, he believes the spill occurred far enough in the lower harbor that the sewage will be diluted by the time it drifts into Long Island Sound.

Funny how to the 5 w’s, who, what, where, when and why aren’t really addressed in this news report. When did the hookup occur? What was the amount of sewage that passed through? Where was the hookup made? When did the error get made, and when did ti get corrected? Why was the error made? It’s like remedial journalism over in the media these days. See Contractor make mistake. See sewage flow in sound. Run sewage, run.

source: The Hour, Subcontractor for CL&P spills sewage into Norwalk River, by Steve Kobak, October 3, 2008

Tags: Norwalk

14 Responses so far ↓ “Oops, Sewage Dumps Into Sound”



  • 1 Diane C: ahh, yes, low bids // Oct 3, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    C’mon TG: You know Quarter-Hour NEVER answers elementary who-what-when-where-why-how. Only WHAT it wishes you to know, WHEN it is convenient for them to do so, after it may or may not bother to find out WHY, and only if you-know-WHO approves of it.
    PS: saving my Quarter-Hour for entertainment reading after dinner, so did they at least NAME the sub-contractor? Jusssst wanna make sure they aren’t at the top of Hal’s list in the bidding for the Olmstead-Raymond/Noahs piping projects…..

  • 2 John Frank // Oct 3, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    What I was told, as chair of the Shellfish Commission, Wednesday, was a very high bacterial count, with a visible cloudy gray plume, was observed by Dick Harris of Earthplace, who does water sampling in the river. He contacted Tom Closter at the Health Dept and Tom asked OMI, who maintains the sewer plant and the sewer system, to investigate. They sent a team that quickly found the problem. A contractor working for CL&P had set up a sewer pipe bypass to move raw sewage around a work site on Main St near Union Ave on Sept 5th. They rigged pumps and those pumps have moved an estimated 20,000 gallons of raw sewage every day around their job into a manhole. That manhole was not a sanitary sewer manhole, but a storm water manhole that drained into the river near Cross St. The contractor fixed the problem as soon as it was brought to their attention.
    Norwalk Harbor has been closed for shellfishing and will not re-open until State Aquaculture bureau in Milford is satisfied by water testing and shellfish sample testing, that the water quality has returned to normal. We expect that local shellfish companies will seek damages from the contractor. I don’t have the name of the contractor right in front of me, but they are still working and their equipment is still there on Union Ave at Main St.

  • 3 Anonymous // Oct 3, 2008 at 7:19 pm

    Wouldn’t be eating that bluefish you caught in the harbor. Clams or oysters either…

  • 4 John Frank // Oct 3, 2008 at 7:33 pm

    Norwalk Harbor has been closed for shellfishing since early in September when we had that big rainstorm. Any shellfish taken illegally from the harbor during that period are probably not safe to eat. Shellfish are filter feeders and absorb anything that is in the water. Bluefish are not filter feeders and are probably not as much of a problem. Most bluefish don’t hang around in the river all that much.
    Shellfish taken in Darien or Westport, after those areas re-opened, are safe to eat.

  • 5 Anonymous // Oct 3, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    Hey John not the only thing that was spilled into the environment check your mail that storm drain smells like its holding some fuel.

    what a city, after last Rt 136 was closed for about 5 hours last night while waiting for the state to sand Wilson st after a horrendus three car accident which included two seperate head on crashes at Cove you would think the city would take more interest in our environment.No one ever picked up the contaminated sand wonder why not? Still sits there to wash into Rowyaton harbour next rain.

    Then agian I’m sure Ed Carlson and the people of Rowaton are still wondering why The Hour or The Advocate didn’t mention fuel spill,better yet they never mentioned the accident.

    this was not a tale like in Bluefish this was fact.Residents watched as the fire dept took almost an hour to get the trapped victim out even fire trucks from Norwalk showed up.What a mess.

  • 6 Anonymous // Oct 3, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    lets go back and see what Steve said about who called him back so he could report this like the police dept they don’t get back to the press lets start hearing what Norwalks all about.I think its reckless to report what the press doesn’t do until they are asked why when and where its nice read whats going on what about the facts?He broke the story why not accept progress of the Hour report now lets get some facts straight,I hate to divulge inside info but why didn’t Tom call him back this was lame shot at a reporter who honestly I don’t like.Maybe the truth about what our city doesn’t tell is the story you really expect the Hour to tell us that?

    Homestly protecting the guilty is getting old.Its not the press I thought Norwalk learned its lesson with Noel she has gone on to great reporting on the Ct Post.take a shot her she wear teflon.

  • 7 John Frank // Oct 4, 2008 at 8:29 am

    Tom Closter is off for a few days. The reporter apparently does it all by phone. He never bothered calling me to verify that the email I sent was legit. Some of the other folks he called, like Tony D’Andrea, did not call back because they were very carefully getting the full story details before talking to reporters.
    The story in today’s hour sounds like I disputed Alvord’s report. That is not so. I was very careful to tell the paper that a crew from OMI actually found the problem for us and got it fixed as soon as they found it. OMI’s people work, as subcontractrors, for the the City’s DPW, and Mr Alvord. The only difference in our stories is Alvord didn’t seem to know how long it had been going on, I was told it started Sept 5th.
    Anonymous #5 is concerned about fuel and oil spills at MV accidents that are not being contained and cleaned up as well as they should be and getting into storm drains. When that happens, it is a problem and we will find out why it is not being done.

  • 8 Anonymous // Oct 4, 2008 at 10:33 am

    The state the EPA The Coast Gaurd were notified 12 hours after the incident in the city. Could there be a possible problem with Village Creek? so now we let them sort it out,Norwalk had its chance to resolve a possible problem the site should of never been left the way it was.Pictures worked they tell a story the documentation was enough to raise a red flag.

    No one asked was the trailor full of refuse sitting on a city street and not on the property all night was a problem did they?I thought when the city wanted to take over the transfer station there was suppose to be nothing left overnight on that site was I wrong for assuming that.

    Days after a publicized spill at the sewage plant a call months ago went to State Aquaculture bureau in Milford to ask if the coast was clear,first they heard about it.This is not the first time standard reporting to the state or EPA has not been done another instance recently with the fire dept drew the same results.

    No one has ever questioned your ethics John yet so may people in town that need to know things are the last to find out.For you and those working so hard to make this work why can’t more coperation be lent to help the council and commissions do their job effectively.

    Why such a tight lipped policy when if the case can be harmful to others why not flyers in two languages posted along the river where some harvest for supper,we do have a strong showing along the river all the way down into Shorefront park daily of people enjoying the water.

    So the next question would be if dewatering is taking place why wasn’t that also mentioned?Why wasn’t it used? The Frat tanks are there for CL&P why not use them for the estimate that was given of disharge only one was needed.(20,000 gallons)

    Were samples taken of this to ensure it was just sewage if not we have contaminated the path to the river correct?

    Experience also tells a trained eye not to trust estimates unless the trash pumps were metered.

    Always doubt always an answer.

    taxpayers should be concerned money spent on this didn’t come out of our pocket,I now wonder if the DPW and OMI working on this took away from other projects that needed to be done we still have our favorite backup on Meadow st we all have been watching for years.

  • 9 John Frank // Oct 4, 2008 at 7:54 pm

    The amount spilled into the storm drain was estimated at 20,000 gallons a day since Sept. 5th until wednesday, Oct. 1st. that is 25 X 20,000 or 500,000 (half a million) gallons. I believe that is a reasonable estimate, based on pumps used and their capacity, I don’t think the flow was metered.

    As far as anything left overnight at Meadow St transfer station, the permit in place when that was being considered for operation by the City had nothing left there overnight as a permit condition and the City at one time had an ordinance about truckloads of grabage left overnight. I don’t know if that permit is still in effect, or there is a new one. The old one, in Waste Management’s name, was long expired.

  • 10 John Frank // Oct 4, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    The amount spilled into the storm drain was estimated at 20,000 gallons a day since Sept. 5th until wednesday, Oct. 1st. that is 25 X 20,000 or 500,000 (half a million) gallons. I believe that is a reasonable estimate, based on pumps used and their capacity, I don’t think the flow was metered.

    As far as anything left overnight at Meadow St transfer station, the permit in place when that was being considered for operation by the City had nothing left there overnight as a permit condition and the City at one time had an ordinance about truckloads of grabage left overnight. I don’t know if that permit is still in effect, or there is a new one. The old one, in Waste Management’s name, was long expired.

    OMI responded immediately, at the request of the Health Dept, fearing it might have been a sewer system failure. They identified the problem very quickly and got it corrected by the contractor responsible for the mistake. J.J.Brennan Construction of Shelton. I don’t know what work they were taken from to respond to this.

  • 11 Anonymous // Oct 4, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    This whole thing is so terrible,and to think John you and others have to help and clean it up.Not for nothing the commission has been working on cleaning it up for years.Is this going to set the commissions work back now that this has happened?

    Thanks

    The other subject makes me wonder if this happened and Norwalk had the permit would we be liable for the trash and the fuel in the street?

    I wonder if any council member wants to address any of this.

    I assume now that they are what taking samples in the river none of this effects the bottoms they are planning to dig but just the same how much more is the river going to endure before it starts to heal?

  • 12 Anonymous // Oct 5, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    “They identified the problem very quickly and got it corrected by the contractor responsible for the mistake. J.J.Brennan Construction of Shelton. I don’t know what work they were taken from to respond to this.”

    It’s amazing to me that this company did anything “quickly” since they have been working on the same dew blocks since last year. Everyone on the surrounding neighborhood streets are sick to death of watching these guys sitting around doing very little while our police sit there B.S.-ing to these guys doing nothing themselves.

    Are these guys getting overtime doing nothing? All while the people living around their “detours” are kept awake all night by the noise of these huge trucks barreling down the streets and the constant “beep, beep, beep” of the trucks and other equipment going in reverse?

    Some of us still have a job to go to and fully do understand the length of time it is taking when we observe these guys “working”. It is surely a waste of time and money and been dragged on way too long. What do they care if they pollute the L.I. Sound while they’re picking the taxpayer’s pockets?

  • 13 Anonymous // Oct 5, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    I’m just wondering if the hookup was the only option and if the hookup was corrected diverting sewage is the original problem still existing?

    Its one thing to read this and understand someone has made mistakes and its become costly but where from here?Was anyone from the city responsible to check this work and what prevents it from happening again?

    Even if the Health board found it what happens if they miss it next time?You know with Norwalk its not can it happen again its when again is it going to happen.

  • 14 Willie Thorton // Oct 5, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    Now that explain where the brown trout came from. I wonder if the Coney Island Whitefish came from the same place.?

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