Government
Illegal Sump-Pump Hookups Prompt Town To Commission $200,000 ‘Inflow Study’ of Sewer System
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An increasing number of New Canaan residents appear to be illegally connecting sump pumps to the town’s sewers, prompting municipal officials this week to commission a $200,000 “inflow study” of the system. Sump pumps are supposed to be connected to the storm drain system, “but they get hooked to the sewer system, so we’ll see a big spike during a storm,” according to Jim Rogers, superintendent of the Department of Public Works Water Pollution Control Facility. “We are receiving an excessive amount of water at the Treatment Plant and it’s getting progressively worse,” Rogers told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Tuesday at Town Hall. “The past two storms that we had brought us right to the limit of what the plant can handle, and we have to evaluate the sewer system. It’s something we have to do.”
The plant is designed to handle 7 million gallons of water “and we were right at 7 million” as a result of recent storms, Rogers said.