Potential Interconnection to Danbury Water Supplies
from New Fairfield

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SECTION 6

CONNECT WITH DANBURY INTRO   |   CONNECT TO CENTRAL BETHEL
TO NORTHERN BETHEL   |   TO SOUTH BROOKFIELD   |   DANBURY'S INTERNAL NEEDS
TO NEW FAIRFIELD   |   TO SOUTH NEW MILFORD   |   TO NEWTOWN   |   TO RIDGEFIELD

The 2003 New Fairfield Plan of Conservation and Development states that "during the planning period, New Fairfield should consider alternative ways to provide for a public water supply to the Town Center area to address water quality concerns in this area. A detailed study of the potential for a water supply should be conducted."

There is no direction within the above 2003 Plan recommendation as to whether or not the alternatives should be broad enough to include exploring water from the Danbury Water Department. This current analysis does not substitute for the suggested supply study, but does provide an overview of an "out of town source" option.

Yet town officials interviewed for this analysis indicated that any future minor water supplies needed for the Town Center should be sought only from within New Fairfield’s municipal boundaries. Their concern about importing out of town utility services relates to avoiding growth inappropriate for New Fairfield’s relatively remote location and overall low density planning.

The policy maps of the regional plan adopted by HVCEO and the state plan adopted by the Connecticut General Assembly firmly discourage extension of growth inducing water or sewer utilities northward up Route 37 from Danbury into New Fairfield. Both plans make exceptions when such utilities are of limited size and serving only existing water pollution problems, but such linkage is from the planning perspective still problematic.

The New Fairfield Municipal Water System became operational in 2004 with three bedrock wells. The minimum safe yield is about 14,000 gallons per day (gpd), but local officials lowered it to 12,000 gpd. Current use for Town properties and Shaw's market is 3,000 - 4,000 gpd. Additional properties along the water main may be allowed to tap into this system in the future as conditions permit.

Maximum theoretical yield with all 3 wells pumping continuously would be about 115,000 gpd, although at that level the wells might begin interfering with one another and the sanitary radii would have to be increased.

While there are known groundwater contamination problems in New Fairfield Center that contribute to the need for new potable supplies, local officials do not plan to take water from the nearby Short Woods Brook stratified drift aquifer.

A key reason is that this aquifer provides a hydraulic head that pushes water into the bedrock fractures, and there is concern that pumping large volumes of water from the stratified drift aquifer might begin to pull pollutants northward from the contaminated areas to the south.

At the January 20, 2006 HVCEO meeting New Fairfield noted that because of the local groundwater contamination, the Connecticut Department of Public Health was not in favor of additional groundwater withdrawals from the area. As a result, the current First Selectman believes that the Danbury interconnection should still be considered.


SEE MAP OF POTENTIAL CONNECTION

The New Fairfield Town Center as a commercial area is almost fully developed. Town officials indicate that a possible future need for additional water would be for fire protection. The possible additional domestic consumption for the Town Center Area was estimated by Town officials at 15,000 to 20,000 gallons per day (gpd), with a maximum estimate of 75,000 gpd.

With the exception of the Ball Pond Water System in western New Fairfield, New Fairfield’s few independent water systems are too remote to be economically served from Danbury.

The Ball Pond System is now owned by Aquarion Water Company of Connecticut. Significant improvements have recently been made to this system by Aquarion, and it is now self sufficient without the need of a connection to Danbury, which would have been via northwestern Danbury and Route 39, not along Route 37.

If a water main were extended to the New Fairfield Town Center from the Danbury system it would be from a point on Route 37 near Danbury’s Bear Mountain Road. The length of the hypothetical water main would be about 5,500 feet, with 2,500 feet in Danbury and 3,000 feet in New Fairfield. A 12-inch main would be required to provide fire flows.

This portion of the Danbury water system is served by the Margerie pumping station at HGL 840. The pumping station has three 160 gpm pumps and a 2,170 gallon hydropneumatic tank. The HGL of 840 is high enough to provide adequate pressure in New Fairfield, but the pumping capacity and tank storage would not be adequate for fire flows, which could be as high as 3,500 gpm for a duration of three hours.

The cost for the hypothetical water main extension north from Danbury to the New Fairfield Town Center would be about $450,000 in Danbury and $560,000 in New Fairfield. The pumping station and tank needed for fire flows would cost another $1,500,000.