Old Lyme Votes In Favor of Studying Wastewater Treatment Options

• Treating, reusing, and recycling wastewater in town recharges local water supplies and keeps precious water resources in Old Lyme. 
  
• A local wastewater treatment system is preferable to a regional solution as it gives the town control over costs. That would not be the case if waste was sent via sewers to New London's wastewater treatment plant, Reemsnyder said, as the plant sets its own rates and the town would be on the hook to pay for any expansion of the New London plant, which is likely in the future. 
  

Kurt Zemba, chairman of Old Lyme's Wastewater Management Task Force, which has been working hard on this issue, agreed. 

"Many of our members have been involved with sewer avoidance," he said. "We wanted to help our shoreline residents. We don't want the state coming in and telling us what to do. We believe wastewater control should be local."

No Sewers = Less Development

A number of seasonal residents who own beach homes in Old Lyme but have primary residences in other towns that are on sewer systems asked why Old Lyme was so opposed to sewers. Sewers are, after all, a generally accepted means to dispose of waste. 

Reemsnyder's answer got to the crux of the matter for many. Old Lyme is a small town and it wants to stay that way. Once sewers are installed along Route 156, it will become more difficult to limit development. A community wastewater treatment system is, by nature, smaller and has finite capacity. 

"The purpose of doing this locally would be to limit development," Reemsnyder said. 

In recent years, Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has done an end-run around the town's sewer avoidance policy, approaching individual beach associations which operate as quasi-municipalities and urging them to install sewers that connect to New London's wastewater treatment plant. 

Point o' Woods was the first independent beach community to hook up, but last summer two more voted to install sewers and are now under a consent decree from DEEP to have sewers no later than June 2016. Another beach association is expected to follow suit.

Reemsnyder warned that if the town can't come up with a community-based solution to wastewater treatment on the shoreline, Old Lyme could also find itself under a state mandate to hook up to the sewer line the DEEP is planning to run along Route 156.

Town Must Study All Options, Including Sewers

Last night's vote came after a number of public presentations on the proposal but the process itself was fast-tracked by the Board of Selectmen because the study will require soil tests that have to be conducted when the water table is highest at the end of April.

The study will be conducted by the firm of Woodard and Curran of Windsor, which was selected by the Board of Selectmen after being vetting and recommended by the Old Lyme Wastewater Management Task Force.

On Monday, DEEP informed the town that the study is eligible for a clean water fund grant, which will reimburse the town for 55 percent of the cost. To receive the funds, the study must consider the pros and cons of every option, including sewers to New London, and offer a cost benefit analysis for each option.  

"Is DEEP really receptive to this?" former Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold asked, recalling that in the past the town and the state agency have not seen eye-to-eye on Old Lyme's sewer avoidance policy. 

"I made it very clear we needed them to work with us and not against us," said Reemsnyder. She said she has had several meetings with DEEP, including a meeting with DEEP Commissioner Daniel Esty, and the agency has been working closely with the town so far.

If Old Lyme's study finds that the community-based wastewater treatment system is the best option, she added, "We will be a model for other communities."