HARTFORD – The Metropolitan District Commission (MDC)
has launched a new website:
thecleanwaterproject.com, designed to provide
up-to-date information on all aspects of the Clean Water Project. The website
will help MDC customers in the eight district towns get information on all
aspects of this initiative, a more than $1 billion project that will improve the
area’s water quality and help protect residents’ health and safety.
The website will offer a useful town by town directory of activities,
construction-related traffic advisories, the historic conditions that led to the
development of the Clean Water Project, as well as detailed information on the
multitude of projects that will comprise this undertaking.
“The web site is a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate place for our customers to
learn why the MDC needs to make this investment in the region’s infrastructure;
how it will further improve the area’s waterways and how the project will impact
them and their communities,” said Robert Weimar, MDC Chief of Program
Management.
Other features of the web site include:
- A list of the members of the Citizens Advisory Committee, a group which
provides valuable input to the Clean Water Project;
- Available contract and employment opportunities;
- Related links;
- A profile of the Program Management Unit, which has been formed to oversee the
Clean Water Project for the MDC.
The Clean Water Project formally addresses a federal consent decree and a
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection consent order to achieve the
Federal Clean Water Act goals. All projects must be completed by 2020.
The Clean Water Project includes two basic elements: (1) reduction of combined
sewer overflows with the Hartford central sewer system, and (2) elimination of
sanitary sewer overflows in the sanitary sewers of Wethersfield, West Hartford,
Windsor, Rocky Hill and Newington. The existing sewage systems have more than 38
CSO overflows, and eight active sanitary sewer overflows, which release more
than 1 billion gallons of wastewater to area waterways. In fact, more than 30
miles of the Connecticut River are impacted by untreated sewage during storm
events more than 50 times per year.
The Clean Water Project encompasses an array of projects, ranging from new sewer
construction, additional wastewater treatment capacity and a new storage tunnel.
These projects will eliminate sewer backups into basements and onto streets, as
well as eliminate sewage overflows to area waterways during an average year. A
side benefit of the sewer separation projects will be improved community
infrastructure, including utilities and street upgrades.
Customers in the eight MDC member towns also should watch their mail for their
water bills, which will have more information specifically geared to their
towns.
A non-profit municipal corporation chartered by the Connecticut General Assembly
in 1929, the MDC supplies water and sewer services to its eight member
municipalities: Bloomfield, East Hartford, Hartford, Newington, Rocky Hill, West
Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor. The MDC supplies treated water to Portland
and portions of Glastonbury, East Granby, South Windsor and Farmington. The MDC
owns and operates two three-megawatt hydroelectric power stations, at the
Goodwin Dam in Hartland and at the Colebrook River Dam in Colebrook. More
information can be found on the MDC website,
www.themdc.com.
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