TOWN OF NEWTOWN
WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY
The Newtown Water and Sewer Authority held a regular meeting on Thursday May 14, 2009, at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, Commerce Road. Chairman Richard Zang called the meeting to order at 7:22pm
Present: Richard Zang, Carl Zencey, Lou Carbone, Richard Conte
Also present: Ted Kreinik of EDC and the Clean Energy Task Force, Jason O’Brien and Julio Segarra of AOS Operating Co., Fred Hurley, Director of Public Works
Absent: Marianne Brown, Alan Shepard, Phil Cruz
Public Participation – None
Approval of Minutes: Upon motion by Lou Carbone, and seconded by Carl Zencey, the minutes of the April 16, 2009 meeting were unanimously accepted as presented.
OLD BUSINESS
Gallons processed vs gallons billed study – The raw data for the metering that took place last month was received from Flow Assessment Services, LLC. The company does not supply an analysis, just the raw data. There appears to be an influence from the rain on flow rates. There is a lag so it probably is not due to direct stormwater inflow. Flow data from meter Site 1, Hawley Road, prior to and after the rain event was reviewed. Early Friday morning, compared to early Saturday there is a huge jump. The best guess is that it is some form of sump pump activity. The raw data needs to be analyzed. Fred is going to check with the engineering firms that that WSA works with to determine if they have a program to analyze the raw data.
Set the Sewer Benefit Assessment for 107 Church Hill Road – Tabled
Set 2009 Residential Sewer Benefit Assessment – Tabled
Solar Feasibility study – Ted Krienick from EDC and Clean Energy Task Force, wanted to review the RFP for the Solar Feasibility study. There was an informational bid from Opel but the WSA didn’t know how it would impact them, which was the reason for the RFP. Mr. Krienick informed the authority that there are four initiatives this year for the EDC and one of them is solar technology. This would benefit the tech park and they would like to have the buildings fitted with solar power. Collectors can be roof-mounted on buildings or they can installed in a field. The buildings would use the power and if there was usage left over, it would be sold back to the grid. The area is not suitable for wind, geothermal is an option, but solar is more
desirable. There are 4 fields in Tech Park and there is an area at the wastewater treatment plant. The Opel Corporation provided areas of interest. The largest user of electricity in Newtown is the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The EDC wants to work with the WSA together to get the best configuration and cost. The Tech Park land was given to the town for economic development but if there is no economic development the land would go back to the state. They feel that the solar panels would be considered economic development. Mr. Zang clarified that there is one project. It is either a WSA project or a town project. The RFP that was sent out was not specific to a specific parcel. It was Mr. Zang’s understanding that there was no room on the property of the Wastewater Treatment plant and that the area that they were looking at is the tech park. Opel came in to make a presentation to the clean energy task
force and it was Ted’s suggestion that they make a presentation to EDC. East field and north field are the areas on tech park land that are of interest. If it was a town project, the WSA would buy power from them. If it is a WSA project they would have to amortize the cost and the WSA would get the power for free; over 20 years that would be worth about $400,000. Opel’s budgetary proposal was $1.19 million and that did not include engineering or land leases. This does not look very attractive as a WSA project. The WSA would like the town to come back with a term sheet for a project. The power from Opel’s proposal would be just enough power to supply the plant. The WSA might be willing to pay half the cost of the feasibility study. Mr. Krienick questioned the WSA time frames. Mr. Zang replied that he thought we should be ready because the next round of funding is coming out shortly.
NEW BUSINESS
Report by Public Works Director – USGS is redoing the annual agreement. There is an issue; there is a maintenance fee of $27,000. The WSA does not want to finance aquifer studies that benefit only the town. The position that Mr. Hurley would like to take is to not pay them a penny until they supply a schedule of deliverables. They have not put in the third stream gage. They need to be held responsible for the damage they did to the well #3 and the added cost the WSA paid to Potatuck to use their well. This is not just about money, future plans will be determined by the location of the aquifer. Mr. Zang suggested contacting U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy to help with a solution.
Report by AOS Operating Company – The plant is running very well. They averaged 12 pounds nitrogen removal per day for the month of April. The grinder pump at Rand Whitney was sent out and it was grit that shorted it out. They could install pretreatment to alleviate the problem. Once the report is back on the grinder pump, AOS can move forward.
They followed through at Meadowbrook Terrace, 55 Sugar Street, with a camera to see if there is debris in their lines. They found no debris or smoking gun that could have caused the leak.
Having no further business the meeting was adjourned at 9:20pm.
Arlene Miles, Clerk
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