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Cheshire WPCA warns aging pipes, stormwater inflow are 'killing' plant capacity; consultants propose $400,000-a-year find-and-fix program
Summary
Wright-Pierce told the Cheshire Town Council that infiltration and inflow (INI) is overwhelming the town's 60-year-old wastewater plant, citing DEP notices and damaged concrete pipe. The consultant recommended a five-year, $400,000-per-year program with a likely 55% state grant and 45% town share.
John Prad, chairman of the Town of Cheshire Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), told the council that infiltration and inflow — water that should not be entering the sewer system — is consuming treatment capacity and driving up costs.
"This is water that is not supposed to be coming into our system that's making its way into there. And we are getting robbed of capacity of the plant," Prad said, adding bluntly, "It's killing us." The presentation was delivered by Wright-Pierce engineers, who outlined plant condition, regulatory history and remedial options.
Why it matters: Council members heard that the town's treatment plant is about 60 years old and has been repeatedly upgraded for new permit-driven requirements, but the collection system beneath the streets has aged and deteriorated. Wright-Pierce reported that a 2025 townwide INI study divided the system's 96 miles of sewer into 40 sections; 16 of those sections showed excessive responses to rainfall and groundwater, identifying roughly 40…
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