City, Tilcon Plan Creates New Reservoir
By Robin Vinci | Editor at February 17, 2024 | 9:51 pm | Print
The City and Tilcon are seeking to have new legislation approved that will, in 40 years, result in a new clean water reserve.
Mayor Erin Stewart, Tilcon President Gary Wall and Water Department Director Gil Bligh spoke to about 80 residents Wednesday night at Lincoln School to propose the plan and get feedback.
The plan calls for the City to lease 131.4 acres of Zero Piddle Pass located in Plainville, but owned by the City. Tilcon would be blasting the quarry for the next 40 years.
Officials told residents that the plan would move the blasting zone further away from where they are now and would have a 1,000 foot buffer. The blasting nearby would immediately cease.
If the plan is disapproved, Wall said Tilcon would still have at least 30 years to work at the present quarry.
The lease with Tilcon will allow a pure and adequate supply of drinking water for New Britain, Plainville and Southington. Mayor Stewart said Plainville officials had met on Tuesday night and said they were on board with the project.
The quarry would prepare the land for a reservoir and surrounding land for reforestation. Surrounding property would be kept as open space. New Britain would get 95 acres and Plainville and Southington would get 144 acres.
“The blasting right now is up to 300 feet from residents’ backyards. If this passes it will never again be that close,” said Mayor Stewart. “We hand delivered letters to these residents so they could come to the meeting.”
Stewart said it is key that residents understand that this would move blasting farther away from them.
“I grew up at Garry Drive and I now what it is like,” said Stewart.
The City would get a lease agreement down the road if legislation concerning this project passed or a bill was raised to make this project a reality.
The proposal was originally brought before the City and legislature in 2007 under Mayor Timothy Stewart. It was originally approved by the legislature, but later it was repealed due to local politics, said Stewart.
“We want the bill raised at by the Public Health Committee, but we also want public feedback from residents,” Stewart said.
Bligh said in December the City hit a first stage of drought alert. This seems to happen every nine years, he said.
“One of our problems is the inability to store all the water that we have. This would make a big difference because it is 4 3/4 billion gallons of water which is 3 and 1/2 times more than the amount Shuttle Meadow gives us,” Bligh said. “This will give us more capacity to store water.”
“It’s a pretty solid plan,” added Wall.
“This process is how we created the Wassel Reservoir,” said Stewart. “We are lucky right now to have our own water source. This is a no brainer to build another reservoir.”
Residents Wednesday had a lot of questions surrounding the blasting of the area. One asked how they would be assured the new blasts would not affect them. He asked to monitor the blasts.
Wall said the blasts are monitored and the buffer would help as well as being farther away from the present blasting.
Resident Peter Davis of Hickory Hill said. “Water will be a hot commodity in the future even more than it is now. But it looks like they (blasting) will be creeping closer. What assurances would Tilcon give to check our neighborhoods to see if it stayed the same or lessened?”
Once again Wall said the setback buffer would make the noise father away from Hickory Hill which will be at about 3,000 feet.
“I’ve witnessed blasting between 11:30 and 12 o’clock. Things fall out of my cabinets. The positive news is the buffer is moving to 1,000 feet back, but it will be 2,000 feet for the next 20 years and then come back,” said Resident Patrick Dorsey. “I see we are getting clean water to pass down to residents. I think it would be a great asset to the City to partner with Tilcon and come up with another reservoir. It’s a win-win situation. I’m 100 percent in favor of this.”
One resident asked for a third party to do an independent review of the proposal.
Stewart said a study would have to be done.
“One of my concerns is the pipeline that was put in more than 60 years ago,” said Carl Eckert of May St. “If there is a rupture it will severely impact the neighborhood of the west end. Is there an equal concern from Tilcon?”
“We do monitor the pipeline,” said Wall. “We have a buffer from the pipeline. We have to have everything approved.”
Plainville residents also voiced concerns that their wells are close to the site and were worried it would affect their production.
“The City would like to be a good steward of the environment and our resources,” Stewart said. “In an effort to preserve a safe drinking water source for all future generations we would like to pursue this opportunity now.”
For more questions or concerns, residents are asked to call the Mayor’s Office at 860-826-3303.
