Still River West Aquifer in Danbury, CT

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Access a legend for the map below
Source of Map: Water Resources Inventory of CT, Part 6, Upper Housatonic River Basin, by the
U. S. Geological Survey and the CT Department of Environmental Protection, 1972.

THIS IS AN EARLY (1972) GENERALIZED MAP OF ESTIMATED AQUIFER BOUNDARIES ONLY;
COMPARE IT TO LATER DATE USGS SURFICIAL MATERIALS MAP

HISTORIC BASE LINE DATA: 1980 HVCEO
REPORT ON STILL RIVER WEST AQUIFER
This major aquifer, in the center of Danbury, comprises about 2.4 square miles of direct recharge area and is the most intensively urbanized of all aquifers in the Region.

Land uses include the densely developed commercial and institutional uses along Main and White Streets, major industrial areas along the Still River, Beaver Street and South Street, medium and high density residential and commercial neighborhoods throughout the central area, Wooster Cemetery, and Rogers Park.

View of Osborne Street Field in Still River
West Aquifer. Photo courtesy of Rick Gottschalk.

Wetlands, once extensive, and most open space have been entirely consumed by the City’s central development. The entire central city has public water and sanitary sewers. Among identified groundwater problem sources at this site are one industrial waste disposal site (metals) and three permitted industrial point discharges.

Despite the "urban handicap", the northern portion of this aquifer in the vicinity of Wooster Cemetery has favorable coarse-grained composition and a depth possibly of 140 feet or more. This area has been recommended for exploratory drilling by the HVCEO’s consulting engineers and hydrologists, and is also the site of a well serving the municipal water system.

View from Wooster Cemetery within Still River
West Aquifer. Photo courtesy of Rick Gottschalk.

Desirable control measures for this urban area aquifer should focus on prevention and elimination of all deleterious discharges, limitations on intensity of aquifer site coverage, controls on street salting and on chemical and fuel storage.

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CT DEP WATER DIVERSION PERMIT
A CT DEP water diversion permit dated 3/25/99 authorized the City of Danbury to withdraw water from this aquifer. The permit authorized 0.5 million gallons per day.

According to the Danbury Water Department's 2005 report "The City of Danbury maintains several wells in the vicinity of Osborne Street/Ellsworth Avenue for use in prolonged periods of low precipitation."

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DISCONTINUATION OF USE
In consultation with state regulatory agencies, Danbury noted in 2008 that it planned to eliminate future use of this resource. The reason is concern for water quality due to the urban environment.

Then correspondence from Paul Stacey of DEP to Danbury dated 11/26/2008 notes that "Danbury's Osborne Street Well is no longer an active well, and will not be mapped to Level A standards."