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02/18/2019 11:00 PMNearly a year since the Board of Selectmen (BOS) approved and allocated up to $30,600 for the design and field testing of two pilot septic systems for the town’s center, the project is midway into its design phase. The systems will be installed at two town-owned properties: the John P. Riggio Building and the concession stand at Town Beach.
Town engineer Brian Curtis, P.E., of Nathan L. Jacobson & Assoc., has been hammering out a design in consultation with the town’s Health Department, its Water Pollution Control Commission (WPCC), the Connecticut Department of Health (DPH), and the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP). A proposed design is expected to make its way to the WPCC for review at its next meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 27.
For the past year, the town has been conducting soil, water, and percolation tests, which ascertain how quickly effluent is absorbed into the ground. Also crucial is the delicate environment at the Town Beach. Panicum amarum, for instance, also known as bitter panicgrass, is a coastal grass that is on the state’s Threatened Species List and its protection must be taken into consideration in the design and installation of the pilot system.
The pilot program is the town’s first concrete step on its rocky path toward complying with decades-old pollution abatement orders. The systems will employ a passive nitrogen removal (PNR) system that the town hopes will prove to adequately remove this pollutant from wastewater while also being cost effective.
The specific PNR technology is already in use in Florida, Long Island, and Massachusetts. Put simply, a layer of sand, sawdust, and wood chips is installed below the leaching field, converting the nitrogen in the wastewater to gas as it passes through and thereby preventing much of that nitrogen from passing into waterways, including Long Island Sound.
Years ago, explained Westbrook Director of Public Health Sonia Marino, the town largely assumed it would have to install advanced technology (AT)systems for properties for which standard septic systems aren’t suitable, such as smaller properties without adequate space for leaching systems and those near the water, where storm surges and sea-level rise can cause systems to back up.
But town consultations with DPH and DEEP indicated that PNR systems could be considered standard in certain cases. And the Connecticut technical standards that became effective as of Jan. 1, 2018 permit the use of PRN technology in standard systems “where warranted (community pollution areas),” according to a DPH summary of the 2018 revisions.
This is important for a number of reasons, including the fact that local departments of health retain jurisdiction over standard septic systems serving residential properties. Specifically, any system with a design flow of up to 2,000 gallons per day is overseen by the local health department, without requiring DPH approval. (An average three-bedroom home with a conventional septic system and no special requirements has a design flow of around 450 gallons per day.)
AT systems, on the other hand, are under DEEP jurisdiction—inserting an additional layer of oversight—and can be beyond the means of many homeowners.
The Water Pollution Control Commission meets Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in the South Conference Room, Town Hall, 866 Boston Post Road, Westbrook.