The water company plans to install a main line in New Canaan, a project that likely will affect roads recently dug up for the natural gas expansion, officials say.
Aquarion’s planned 36-inch water main is a transmission line that’s designed to address the company’s “resiliency problem,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.
“So that’s going to come from Wilton and run its way through to the Waveny tower, to the water tower,” Mann said during a Dec. 11 meeting of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure, held at Town Hall.
“That is primarily going to be on state roads, until it gets to Little Brook, and then they want to come down Little Brook, past the school, down Lakeview, down Millport, down Main, down Farm, get into Waveny Park. So everything that is already being dug up is going to get re-dug for the 36-inch line.”
The comments came during an update on upcoming major capital projects.
The line installation will be a three-year project and it’s now in the planning phase, Mann said. The first phase of it will be in 2020, possibly 2021, he said.
Committee members asked whether hydrants would be installed along the route (no it’s just for a transmission line), whether the line could come in through the Transfer Station (that was the first thought, but there’s an underground liner that would need to be punched through) and whether the line could be installed at the dump aboveground (no it’s too long).
Committee member George Blauvelt asked whether the line would go by the cemetery.
Mann said that Public Works is talking to Lakeview Cemetery officials to determine whether the line would run through there instead of on the roads, “but the cemetery is running into a problem because that’s usable land for them.”
“So [if] they put in a water main, they have to give them [Aquarion] an easement, then they can’t put lots on top of it, for obvious reasons,” he said.
Yes! More suspension repairs! Buy auto stocks now!
If only electricity, cable, phone, water, sewer and gas companies communicated with each other through the vision of a town council, we could have an advanced utility setup that is resistant to outages from storms and is cost effective in the long run. But that would be wishful thinking!
I drive throughout New Canaan every day all day long for work and every day I have to figure out new routes to avoid the Eversource digging and subsequent closed roads and traffic. I thought it would be coming to an end soon. I cracked an axel going over a pot hole left by the construction and my car was unfixable. And now a new water main line is going in and it’s going to take three years?! UGH!!!
Very disappointing that Eversource the Gas Company can’t coordinate projects with Eversource the Water Company (yes, Aquarion is owned by Eversource). Can town officials get Eversource to lay out its projects plans for the next 15 years so they can spend our money efficiently?
Was the “resiliency problem” explained in detail? There are some stated costs and inconveniences associated with this project. What are the benefits? Do they include reducing the need to declare watering restrictions when only mild drought conditions occur?
No it wasn’t.