Sewers or No Sewers? That's The Question in Old Lyme

At the height of the summer season in Old Lyme, swimming in the waters of Long Island Sound can at times be like swimming in a ... well, let's just say, you don't want to swallow the water. 

In the early 1980s, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) began urging shoreline communities to install sewers and connect to centralized wastewater treatment facilities to combat water pollution in Long Island Sound. 

"Old Lyme resisted the strong arm of the state," said First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder. Instead, it created a Water Pollution Control Authority in the early 1990s committed to finding alternative ways to deal with the problem. To avoid sewers, the town established ground water pollution monitoring systems, required regular septic pump outs, and helped homeowners repair failing septic systems. 

The town of Old Lyme, however, has no authority over chartered beach associations. At the urging of DEEP, Point of Woods was the first to decide to install sewers that connect to New London's wastewater treatment facility.

Last summer, and both are now under consent decrees from DEEP to hook up to New London's wastewater treatment facility by June 2016. A fourth beach association is contemplating following suit. 

Clearly, the town had an issue, particularly in the densely-populated beach communities where lot sizes are too small to accommodate expansions of existing septic systems. As the beach communities began to fall like dominoes, the town decided it needed to find a longterm solution to the problem of wastewater.  

The Proposal 

Last summer, Old Lyme Board of Selectmen formed a task force to review an alternative plan originally presented by Lombardo Associates Inc. that would establish a wastewater treatment facility in town.

The volunteers who stepped forward proved to be eminently qualified, including engineers and PhDs, plumbers and Water Pollution Control Authority committe members with decades of combined experience in wastewater treatment.

After months of meetings, the task force chose Woodard and Curran, a engineering firm based in Windsor Locks that specializes in wastewater treatment, to study the feasibility of establishing an alternative conveyance system and community wastewater treatment system in Old Lyme. The study will also include the more traditional approach of sewers for purposes of comparison.

The proposed study will focus on a system to serve some 14,000 homes in the shoreline area from Old Lyme Shores to White Sands Beach, along Route 156 to some areas around Cross Lane. Homes that have septic systems that are 100 percent compliant with DEEP regulations would not be required to connect to a new system, if and when one is approved.

"It can be a phased-in approach," Reemsnyder said. "Not all households will be asked to hook up."

However, Reemsnyder stressed, in the absence of a local wastewater treatment system, DEEP is likely to issue consent orders that will give the town no choice but to install sewers and connect to New London. 

What's the Big Idea? 

As the town of Old Lyme has a long established "sewer avoidance" policy, it's pretty clear that the Board of Selectmen favor an alternative approach that would keep water in local aquifers rather than pumping it out to New London, where outside sources would control water resources and ratepayers and the town would be asked to pay costs that they couldn't control.

"The town strongly believes there is a better solution," said Reemsnyder. "It is in keeping with sewer avoidance. Water can be recycled and reused. The groundwater stays in our community. It's a local solution giving us more control over costs. When the New London facility expands, we will not be expected to pay for that. We will get all reimbursements possible and we will be a model for other communities."  

Why The Rush? 

Establishing such a system is a big undertaking for a small town, and Old Lyme plans to take its time to develop a plan, which will be reviewed by residents every step of the way and ultimately decided on by voters, most likely at a town referendum.

Right now, voters are being asked only to approve this initial study, which will merely get the ball rolling to determine which sites would be most eligible to treat and potentially reuse wastewater. To find that out, however, soil tests have to be conducted when groundwater levels are highest in April or by early May at the latest. 

With that in mind, the town has scheduled a Town Meeting on April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School Auditorium to vote on whether to go ahead with the feasibility study.

Applying for a grant to fund the study and the cost of study itself amounts to about $185,000, but 55 percent of the cost of the study is eligible for reimbursement from the Clean Water Fund. Taxpayers would be responsibile for 45 percent of the cost of the study and for the cost of applying for the grant. 

The will be airing all the hearings several times a week until then.