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Dean/Pocono Road Area

The Brookfield WPCA has received multiple pieces correspondence from the Town Sanitarian voicing concern about the septic challenges in this area. The WPCA hired Lombardo & Associates to conduct an extensive engineering study for options to apply to the situation. In December of 2021 CDM Smith was hired by the WPCA to develop proposed engineering plans to install sewers in the Dean/Pocono Road area (as well as the Candlewood Lake Area), in connection with this study to consider feasible options. In September 2022, a Public Informational Hearing was held to inform the public of the study’s progress and received questions and feedback. Note: the Brookfield WPCA was awarded a 55% grant from CT DEEP to conduct this study.

The Brookfield WPCA has been approved for a $300,000.00 grant from The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), in partnership with the Long Island Sound Study, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Final Design of Brookfield Sewer Extension for Dean & Pocono Road Area project, pending successful completion of the programmatic and fiscal review process. This project will create final designs for two different sewer system options.  One option is a low-pressure wastewater collection system with individual grinder pumps and low-pressure piping below-ground.  The other option is a gravity system with one pump station which will be owned and maintained by the WPCA.  This project will produce a pathway to improve water quality by reducing bacteria, nitrogen and phosphorus from 91 low lying lots in Brookfield into the Still River and downstream to the Long Island Sound. Please note, this funding is only to produce the final design for this system, not construction.

The WPCA held a Public Information Session regarding this project on Thursday, November 21st, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 133 at Brookfield Town Hall.

See the letter sent to all property owners in the project area, notifying them of this information session.

View the minutes of this special meeting with a summary of the presentation and the Q&A Session.

At the end of February 2025, CDM Smith reported:

We are actively working on the following tasks for Dean-Pocono design right now, progressing towards 60% draft design drawings.

– Plan and profile drawings for the gravity sewer and the low-pressure sewer have been drafted in and are in review.

– Utility conflicts have been identified and pipe depths have been adjusted.

– A preliminary site plan for the pump station for the gravity option has been drafted.

– We have completed review of the survey and are compiling a few questions for the surveyor.

– We have also mapped most of the septic systems from records we have found.

– We have begun estimating quantities that will be used for cost estimating.

In a special workshop session, a presentation was given by Engineers CDM Smith to the WPCA Staff. A final report is expected by the end of April, 2025

For earlier deliberations on this project see the October 21, 2020 Special Meeting Minutes

The documents below represent studies of the septic challenges along Dean and Pocono Roads. A number of calls have come in about distressed septic systems. This project is likely to move forward. We are recommending no additional repairs, but simply pump septic tanks more frequently. A next step is to solicit bids for the engineering design and attempt to raise some funds so to keep the cost to the homeowners below the threshold of 10% of the Grand List Value.

In addition, studies have found there are significant amounts of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and e-coli contamination into the river from the septic systems of low lying homes. These nutrients and bacteria flows north eventually into Lake Lillinonah and eventually into the Long Island Sound.

State Reports on the Still River

Links to State reports on the Still River in Brookfield as impaired waters identified by CT DEEP (2020) are provided below. The Still River is on the priority list for action by 2022. That may help in securing funding.

Map with area properties are below: