At a special meeting of the Town of New Canaan Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), town staff and consultants reported progress on the sanitary sewer evaluation study and related mitigation work.

The town’s presenter, Maria Weingarten, Public Works staff, said AECOM finalized and posted the Phase 1 sanitary sewer evaluation report in May and that the report “encapsulates AECOM's extensive field work evaluations, recommendations for further evaluations, and proposals for mitigation measures to the existing sanitary sewer system.” She said the report is guiding Public Works in measures to reduce stormwater infiltration into the sanitary system.

Weingarten described mitigation already underway: replacement of manhole covers without penetrations, work coordinated with recent paving projects on Millport Avenue, Olmsted Court, Green Avenue and Harrison Avenue, and sewer relining efforts on South Avenue and Cross Street. She said the town is preparing for a target of roughly 3,000 linear feet of cured-in-place sewer relining in fiscal year 2026. She further said the overall investigation and mitigation program is staged across fiscal years 2024–2027 and that Phase 2 field work began the morning of the meeting.

Weingarten reported that manhole inspections by a flow-assessment contractor started in Subarea 4 and, after completion, will move to portions of Subareas 8, 9 and 10 in the northeastern system. Separately, Nationwide Water Main Cleaning Company began light cleaning and closed-circuit television inspections in the same subareas; that work was expected to take about three weeks.

She described the work plan as dynamic, allowing the town to address problem areas as they are identified during inspection work, with the overall goal of significantly reducing stormwater and runoff inflow to the wastewater pollution control facility.

Board members asked clarifying questions about budget and funding. Weingarten confirmed that the Phase 1 evaluation cost is $400,000 and that mitigation field work planned for the current year is budgeted at about $500,000; she said the town anticipates capping annual mitigation spending at about $500,000 in order to limit year-to-year budget impacts. Weingarten also said that part of the South Avenue relining was funded through a reimbursement tied to nearby excavation work (described in the meeting as being funded by “Aquarium” and recorded as a reimbursement to the town).

Several members asked about related water-quality impacts in town ponds and rivers; those questions were discussed as tangential to the WPCA’s SSES work. Weingarten and other staff noted that algae and “green muck” in ponds are often driven by depth and lack of flow, upstream inputs and periods of low rainfall, and that dredging or capital measures such as bubblers would be costly and are often the responsibility of private pond owners or other town commissions.

The WPCA indicated it will provide additional updates in future meetings and that the town continues to coordinate with AECOM on Phase 2 field evaluations and concurrent mitigation work.