| Stamford puts Scofieldtown water connections on hold |
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iStockAnalyst Tuesday, February 02, 2010 (Source: The Stamford Advocate, Stamford, Conn.)trackingBy Magdalene Perez, The Stamford Advocate, Conn. Feb. 2--STAMFORD -- The city is putting on hold parts of a project to connect North Stamford homes to the public water supply as city officials look into having a university team study water contamination near Scofieldtown Park. Officials said Monday they are delaying connecting 10 homes on and around Alma Rock Road as they wait to find out whether a team of University of Connecticut researchers will require access to the homes' wells as part of a possible study to determine the source of area pesticide contamination. City Engineer Lou Casolo said the delay is necessary because both Stamford's water supplier, Aquarion Water Company, and the city health department have required a permanent cap on homeowners' wells before connecting their plumbing systems to Aquarion mains. Access to the wells, however, may prove useful to researchers in a study of groundwater flow. Therefore, the city is temporarily avoiding "going live" with the waterlines in order to preserve access to the wells, Casolo said. Other aspects of the $3.4 million project, which ultimately will connect homes on nine streets to the municipal water supply, are moving ahead, Casolo said. A city-hired contractor is progressing with every step of the project other than final connection, he said. In addition to the 10 wells affected by the delay, five homes on Very Merry Road and other streets remain unconnected to city waterlines because their owners refused to let the city permanently cap their wells. The owners did not want the wells permanently closed off because they wanted to preserve their ability to test them in the future, in some cases in the interest of establishing a possible connection between cancer and other health problems with the contamination. North Stamford residents have been pushing for clean water since a federal report detailing soil contaminants in Scofieldtown Park, a former industrial dump, prompted officials to test nearby wells last summer. Since then, the city has found more than 30 wells contaminated with one or more of the toxic pesticides chlordane and dieldrin. The city is still negotiating the details of an agreement that would enlist UConn researchers to conduct new research to determine the source of the contamination. It is not yet certain whether the researchers will undertake the study, city Operations Director Ernie Orgera said. The city would have to pay for such a study, Casolo said. Casolo said he does not yet know exactly which private wells would be needed for testing in the event the study does move forward. Staff writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 203-964-2240. |
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