Water Pollution Control Authority - Regular Meeting

Okay, let's call this meeting of the WPCA for order July 27th, 7.05. In attendance, Dimitri, John, Laura, Dennis, Sally, myself. Brian, you're online?

Yes.

Okay. Any other WPCA member online? Bill?

John?

Okay. Sally, we're going to make you a voting member tonight. That's all I have to do is say, make you a voting member tonight. So we have a quorum. Okay, so a couple of minutes from June 9th, 2026. I've read the minutes. I have no objections. Anybody have any objections to the minutes from June 2026?

I do not. I make a motion that we accept minutes.

I have a second on the motion. One second. That the June 9th one? June, yeah.

It had me in virtual. I was here. Did that matter? Yeah.

ANY OTHER CORRECTIONS TO THE MINUTES? HEARING NONE, MOTION TAKES UP.

MOTION TAKES UP.

MOTION TAKES UP. ALL IN FAVOR? ALL IN FAVOR? ALL IN FAVOR? ALL OPPOSED? ALL OPPOSED?

ANY ABSTAINED?

ANY ABSTAINED? MOTION PASSES. MOTION PASSES. INFORMATION ITEMS, COMMUNICATION INFORMATION ITEMS, COMMUNICATION AND CORRESPONDENCE. AND CORRESPONDENCE. WE CAN START WITH BUDGET, WE CAN START WITH BUDGET, PLEASE.

Okay, I gave everyone a sheet. It explained the extent of this . We did have a large number carried over, maybe close to 15,781. I spoke to Anita about it, and she said that she does anticipate coming through some legal bills, and when they come through, she will apply them and let us know. And so we have no carry over money and we lose all this, but she could handle that. Then it's July already, which is almost over. And the only thing that I've seen yet is the bill for comedy. And that's been entered for payment and I haven't seen anything else. And the second page is simply the budget as it will go.

I don't think we've spent any money besides, I'm sure we owe Erica some money for her work that she's done. We haven't really done any additional mailings that I'm aware of, of really having hired a consultant or done anything else really. So good. So our budget's in good shape. That's great. Okay. Communication, Gordon Slackman, Private Beach Associations. So we did just have a short discussion with Martha, and that was more in regard to Carmody, which we'll also go to. But in terms of the direction that we want to go with Carmody, the results that we're seeing with Carmody, the communication that we've had with Carmody, our focus really has been this month more or less on Carmody. It's a project that we want to get our arms around, sort of in a I don't want to say ignored, but not first priority over the last couple of years with the prior WPCAs. But it is going to be one of our priorities now. And the reason is when you look at the results, there are over a thousand properties right now in the old line that are delinquent and they're pump-ups. And I don't mean like delinquent 30 days. I mean delinquent by a couple of years. And to me, that's just not acceptable. So we are going to address that. We have found that some of our haulers don't have the resources or staff to update our records and are not updating our records when they do come and haul. But we are going to reach out to them. I've given you each a copy of the letter that I've shown to Martha. And this will be going out shortly. And this will go to all of our callers that are registered on our website. We're asking them, first of all, to update their information, but also thanking them for helping us keep our town clean, which is our goal, but also to update the records, which is part of the agreement in return to getting the free advertising that they do get on our website. So we want to help our our residents to have haulers to choose from, but we want those haulers to also fill out Carmody. This isn't anything that isn't done by other towns. I know Clinton demands it of their haulers. And so it's not anything new. It's just something that we are now going to try to pursue more aggressively here in O-Line. Once we get our haulers notified that this is what we're doing, then we'll take our second step And we will reach out again to 1,000 or so properties that are not in compliance. Give them another at least 30 days to comply. And then we'll reach out to them with a stronger voice than the little glossy postcards that we've been sending out, which happens in effect, obviously. On the 12th, we started at 13. We're about to 1,000, 1,100. Over 70, I think, have been returned by the post office. or wrong addresses, which we have to correct. But the rest have been delivered and ignored. Primarily, I think about 10% at this point have responded and did their pop-up. That's, to me, that's not acceptable. So we have to be a little bit more assertive than we've been in the past, over the past five, ten years, as we've had carbonate since 2019. We just have to put a level And I think that people will respond and comply and our town will be the better for it.

Mary, I know for a fact, like one of my neighbors, because we called skips, they did ours last year, was never entered. The time before it wasn't entered. And then the girl behind us, she got a card and she's like, she doesn't live here, she lives in Mass. So she's like, well, I'll call skips for both of us. Because they should be entering. I called. They seemed kind of clueless. They're like, oh, okay, we'll take care of that. I don't know if they have. I haven't checked again. I gave them a couple weeks to do it. I figure I have to check and see if they did.

But it has to be not, oh, we'll do it when we feel like it has to be. Okay, now we're going to do this, or we may have to take your name off our website.

So that's where we're going. Hey, Mary, this is Bill Randaz. Maybe I shouldn't ask now or wait until the questions. But when you say 1,000 homes haven't had their septic done, what percentage of the town is that?

I don't know. I'm just looking at the report. I think there's like 7,500 properties in Old Bonn. So I'm not talking.

You're looking at 12% to 14%? Yeah. My numbers.

Yep.

Just curious how many of those do you think are the private beach associations?

Well, I have a list, and I think I've given you the list. I've sorted it by street, so you can look at that. And there are a good number that are along the shoreline in particular. But we have several waterways in Palo Alto.

Realistically speaking, I can understand them not pumping out knowing that sewers are coming for them.

No, I can't because sewers aren't coming for three to four years.

All right. But I can see why they're not doing it.

If you look at that report, some of them go back to, some of them, first of all, have no entry at all. Zero entry.

And we don't know the last time.

Zero entry. And the others, some of them go back past 2019, 2009. I mean, that's just not acceptable. It's just not acceptable. These are thousand gallon tanks. So, yeah, I get that starting in 2019, you might have said, well, I'll wait a year and see if there's going to be sewers. But now that you know there won't be any sewers for at least three to four years, it's just not acceptable to say, I'm just going to let my property overflow because someday I'll get any choice.

Okay, Mary, I can tell you one thing that my property was listed that last pumping was 2007, 19 years from now. I pumped three times after.

I agree, mine hasn't showed much. And so I'm hearing this a lot.

I'm sure that I've seen many, many people, I know that 14 Portillo Avenue property, I know I used to have it, and it also listed 2007. So I'm sure that 1,000 properties didn't pump. I think there may be 70% of them that was not reported.

So that would be, it would be great, it would be great if we send this letter out to all our haulers, if all of a sudden we got a whole bunch of great information coming in telling us that our properties really have been- I called the hauler who did pump my house.

He said he doesn't have this record anymore.

He doesn't have what?

He doesn't have those records from 2007. They don't have, they just come there call is take the money. This is what they want to do. You paid?

Dimitri, if you have a current receipt, I can enter it for you very quickly.

So like your last pump out, if you have your last pump out.

Okay, so we'll look at that. Did you receive it?

Oh, look again.

I'll send you a copy of my pumping list.

Then we'll enter that, and that's one list we've got to look at. But there's probably a ton of people the same thing, you know, that pumped in. And it's incumbent on the homeowner to be on the back of the hauler.

How can you not pump it for 19 years?

Well, there probably are some properties that have been... There's some that nobody ever knows.

There are some that we have to drop.

What I can tell you, Dimitri, is it's not like they received one card in the mail. This has been an ongoing, right, Erica? At least once a year, these cards go out?

Yeah, as long as I've been here. Yes, for the last few years, they've gone out at least once a year.

So people have received multiple cards. And at that point, it really is up to the homeowner to say, well, why do I keep getting this card? Call Erica, call me, or call right into the WPCA. But just not responding, saying, okay, I know it was pumped out, and then that's it.

Most likely, people called those pumpers, and they did not respond. Most likely.

There's no implied threat on the cards, correct? So if you...

people probably think they're junk mail and don't ever even read them. That's what they look like to me. They look like something like, I got a stack of them today. And you know what I do with them? I go ahead, throw that out, throw that out, throw that out.

Well, a lot of times if there isn't a deadline or something too, you put it in your pile to be done. So maybe on our next thing, we have, there's a deadline. Here's the deadline that this has to be done by.

I think maybe a better way to do it just, most likely that we have to just make first pumpers, those beaches on the shore. You can send letters to the president.

To the president of the company?

Of the beach. Oh, the beach association. Yeah, we talked about that.

We can do that too.

And I said that we are very serious to come to the point that we have to have houses properly pumped. And please help us to do it. And I just checked your your homeowners about that. When they have a meeting, they have a meeting twice a year. The question can come up, but I'm sure that I can't imagine how it was not pumped for 19 years. This is unbelievable.

You know, some of it is education to me too. I was talking about this one time at lunch with someone and him and I've never had my system pumped up, never. But some of it is education.

You know who didn't pump? Never. Test pools owners. A lot? Never. Do you know how a test pool works? It has holes to ground water with a tank. It fills up and water goes around the earth and it just pumps out. It changes elevation in the ocean and all ground water just brings it to the ocean. This is how it works. I was surprised that those people from health department was talking about cesspools are okay. I don't know.

Well, a lot of the modern cesspools, from what I read, are just fully sealed tanks. They're basically a septic tank with no heat shield. And you have to get them out every one to two years, is the recommendation. The production of cesspools is the holes. Without holes, it cannot work. Well, that's the new type they're putting in places. They're just a tank. And there's hundreds of them in old ones like that. When I was going through the records, it said Zestin, no leach, no leach, no leach. I'm going, I hope these people are pumping them out because they've got to be full.

No, and they have to. And I know of someone who has one of these. Just a tank. And they pump it out every other year. And they do it because they have to. They don't want anything to come back.

So then mine just had the drywall. So we do every two years. Once we learn, we first bought that. We didn't even know. We waited the seven years and then, you know, we had it pumped out and they're like, don't wait that long.

Also, I think that when you send us those brochures or whatever, You call them. They cost a lot of money. So this is waste of money. We have to get closer to the homeowners. We have to find a way to get to them.

I wonder if there's a way to have it where people can just send in a copy of theirs and we collect them. And we collect them.

You can do that. You can do that.

Also, when an election comes, we have to give to people for registered voters, give them this card, have you checked your thing, whatever. Something, the way to get closer to the people, because like you said, they think this is nothing, just slip away.

It's not, I want to just say, you know, we're kind of focusing, which is good, on the The area near Long Island Sun, because we want to focus on that, but it's not just that, it's town-wide. There's a lot of other streets not... It is town-wide. That's why we have a big organization, Rogers Lake.

So everybody who has... We can go to the senior center.

We can go to different communities and try to talk or try to bring this up. It's not, I'm just saying, if you just went to the private beach associate, it's not just them. It's town-wide. It's a town-wide problem.

No one ever bothered them. That's what it is. though the WPCHP board didn't hit it as a problem. And we're addressing something that has not been dealt with in a lot of years. And it's going to take us a little while to do this.

Also, those pumpers should leave. Homeowners who call the pumper, they should get that they promise to register with the town. It should be in their On their invoice.

Oh, on their invoice. I don't know about that, but I know.

No, no, no. We have to make it. We have to send to those bumpers. You should have sent them that I promised to notify the town. Because they don't have that.

I think if you look at, if you go on Carbondale, I pulled down the page where you want to register to be a pumper in town to be on the website. I think that's on there. I'm not sure if it's a promise, but I think it's on there, but I'll check again.

Hey Mary, it's Brian.

Yeah, Brian.

You mentioned a bit ago that some pumpers said they don't have the staff to make the small entries into the systems. Do you know how many people will have claimed that they just can't run their business correctly? I mean, is it a dozen people that say they can't do it or more than that? Do we know?

I'm not sure I understand, but I know there's just one caller that I believe is very small and says he can't do it. If he can't do it, all he has to do is tell us and we can mail him and we can do it for him.

Some people go on a website and just put septic pumpers and they give you the list and you can call and that person comes and pumps it and doesn't know the responsibility to register with the town. But homeowner knows that septic is pumped.

The homeowner gets a bill. I've never heard of a pumper come to a house other than somebody who's like when my mother was alive, 99 years old. She's not going to be filling up the septic tank like a family of four. And every pumper gives them an invoice.

Yes, an invoice that they give, yes.

The homeowner gets the invoice. All the homeowner has to do. If we can't get the hauler to do it, get the homeowner, because they're the ones who are going to get the fine.

Dennis, I didn't know they did not report. How do I know?

That's the thing. I had no idea they didn't report mine. I just assumed. Okay, that's what I'm saying.

But you got a bill. You got a bill for the pump.

What the bill? Just in words. When they run, you give them checks.

That's all. It's still a notice that you paid to have a pump up. So take that, whatever they give you, and forward it to Erica or me or... And we'll make sure that it goes off streaming and gets corrected. Because we're not going to be relying, we can't rely on the haulers to do it at any more time. We've got to get it down to the person whose property it is. Because ultimately, they're the ones that would pay the fund, not the hauler. The hauler's going to say, hey, I won't haul anymore.

Well, Here's the other thing, okay? Somebody sends you a card and says you need to pump out, and you say, okay, all right, I'm going to go pump out. Your pumper doesn't report it as they should. I've done my thing. As somebody not on the W, when I first came to town, I didn't know I had to go out there and check and see that it was recorded.

I just assumed it was recorded.

I'm not going to look at that again. I know the ordinance is seven years and hopefully five years pretty soon. I'm not going to look at that again for five years. By then, I don't have that receipt anymore. I'm not going to keep them for seven years.

No, I'm a paper. You know, I worked for Xerox for 40 years, cutting trees down dead bottom.

So I think our little glossy pump out card isn't effective. We need to stipulate more in there. Make sure that your pumper, after you have your pumped out, make sure it go in 30 days. Make sure it's been recorded. If not, bring the receipt. We need to expand our directions to the homeowners and to the pumpers. So we need to communicate better what we need.

And I think having an email even they could send it to will make it easier for out-of-state people. Because we do have a lot of out-of-state owners down on the shore, especially now.

Send it to the WPCA.

Well, the rest of the town has out-of-state owners too. Somebody who lives in New York or Florida in the summertime, in the wintertime.

A lot of people leave all winter, yeah.

So that is a problem. It's too cold. It's the haulers and those people just ignoring it, saying, I'm getting sewers, I'm not going to do this. Or it's just people saying, I'm only here outside of the beach. I'm only here part-time around Rogers Lakes, I'm not doing this. Whatever, it's people just saying, there's only two people here, I'm not doing this. Or, yes, I called the hauler, never got recorded, and now it's seven years later. I couldn't produce a receipt. Yeah. So yeah, we just need to communicate better, get the word out. And yeah, there will be, we will have to have some, unfortunately, there's some properties or maybe penalties, financial penalties that come about for not doing anything at all after being told or communicated with just not doing it.

I think that the information card, the card that a property owner gets needs to, emphatically state that there's a problem there if they don't respond, that there is potential fines.

Well, the other thing we could do is instead of putting a picture on one side, we could on the other side say return this card with the date and information of your, you know, we could do that. Return this card within 30 days or 60 days with the information, who pumped it out, what date. And then if we don't get it from the hauler, then we, you know, who to contact and say, hey, you didn't do this, can you do it?

That's actually a good idea. And make it look a little more official and not like a bulk mailer. Because it would really just look like junk mail to me when I first thing thought and cropped my mind. I would say most people are just throwing those out without looking at them. The fancy picture and the glossy and all that just look like junk mail.

So we need to change the card. And I think we do. I think it would be good. Backside those out. Send it back. I'm sure your information gets updated. We'll work on that. Okay, let's move on. So private beach associations, I really haven't heard much from them. They keep canceling their construction meetings two months in a row now. Saying, first of all, they were waiting on the permits, which they did get the permits. So they do have a staging area now on D6. And I haven't heard anything else. Everything else has been like, okay, well, maybe we'll talk to you in August. So there's nothing really that I have to report on the private beach association.

Larry, have you gone up 156 and seen how they raped the land up there for the staging area? It's abominable. It's a shame.

I know that they promised when they went to zoning that they were going to put down a rock so that it wouldn't get all torn up by their heavy equipment. And that when they leave, they will restore the property as it was.

Well, take a look at it now, boss, because it looks like heck. And I mean, we don't have anything to do directly with that. But I was appalled when I came into town the other day and they made a pile of dirt and pushed everything aside. It's going to be a swamp.

I think that's a zoning.

That's a that's a right.

They're still working on prepping it. You could tell they flattened the soil now. Now they got to bring in stone. They got a lot of stuff.

That's a requirement for when you have any siting for major construction, that they have to strip it down. They have to pile the topsoil all the way in the back so it doesn't leach into a brook and stuff like that. And you'll even see that they grow grass on that topsoil on that big pot so it doesn't erode. This is all part of it. And you have to remember that property is privately owned by... two families, and they can do what they want. It's a commercial piece of property, and it might not look good now, and you might not like storage units, but it is somebody's property, and they're paying taxes on it.

So they did promise, Eric now drilled them on that at the zoning meeting this past month, this month, that they will restore the property as it should be. So I think that the town will hold. Yes.

This opening guide needs to go up and take a look at it. And that's all I got to say. Thank you.

I'm just going to back up one minute on the Board of Selectmen communication. Not so much directly, but Dennis and I did just attend the Board of Selectmen meeting. And there was a long discussion about saltwater intrusion and Connecticut water bringing in low truckload after truckload of water this 4 July 4th. And so it is a concern that is being raised in regard to In fact, that sewers would have on this town. If we do and into our groundwater. If we do end up storing additional sections in town groundwater saltwater water intrusion. Something we've been talking about for years is finally coming to the table to end and the board of selectmen are listening to those concerns.

And everybody knows that there's a moratorium, no more, no more Connecticut water customers. After Miami Beach.

That's it.

The wells were never designed for what they did. There was never point of woods on the table. It was only the three beaches, and that was it. Not hawks' nests, not gardens, not white sands.

Well, they bought gardens, water, this stuff. Yeah, from the well. Right.

Dennis?

Yes.

Excuse me, Bill Reynolds. I don't know if you guys have been able to hear me. I've been here all along. Sorry. How long is that moratorium for? Do you have any clue? This is Bill Reynolds.

Okay, go.

The moratorium was issued last year after Miami Beach was mandated by the State Health Department to fix their water system. And that's when Connecticut Water told the state of Connecticut that they could not fund that reconstruction or that new construction of the water system without the help of the homeowners. So each homeowner had a bill of approximately, I believe it was 150 or $175 a month for three years to fund The construction of that. Just the water. Nothing to do with sewers. And then during their boring, they're finding 18-inch water at 18-inch groundwater. So there's going to be a problem there. And like I said, those wells were never designed to fund Mile Creek School. I mean, during how many times does a school flush the toilets? or wash your hands and make something in the kitchen.

But I'm just wondering on the time frame of if you said that, so if Old Lime Shores and Old County and Miami, they're kind of, I don't know if you want to call it grandfathered and they have enough room for them to, any well owners to tie in if they're forced to tie in because of the sewer mains?

In the discussion at the last Old Lime Shores WPCA, There are a number of well owners that don't want to connect to Connecticut Water. They trust their well to suffice, and that'd be less number of people. But Olyme Shores has always been, since the 80s, a customer of the Sambu Water Company, of Hartung Water Company, LaPenta's Water Company, I mean, I can go back to the 40s for that. So they're already on board.

No, yeah, no, I was just, my question was for if Soundview has to tie in, if there's a moratorium, would the people with wells then have a problem tying into Connecticut water? That was my only gist of the question.

It took me 30 years to get Connecticut water to go up the west side of Portland Avenue. 30 years. when the rest of some viewers already had water. So I'm retaining my well. I know I'm one of probably maybe seven or eight people that have it. And I'm just not going to live under the auspices of Connecticut water.

No, I'm asking if you would be able to, if there's moratoriums and you cannot tie in.

I could.

I think if you're already in a service area, it doesn't include that. It's just new areas. They only have basically four wells by my house.

There's a total of 13, but some are abandoned.

And then they have some elsewhere, but I don't think they function. They've been trucking in water for years. Two years ago, July 4th,

I just mentioned it again to Martha. It's 26 truckloads of water, 24 hours a day. So they only carry about 2,600 gallons of water. They were deficient. It's a 300,000 gallon per day system. They were down to 80,000 gallons.

220,000 gallons. If they put sewers in Area B, those wells are going to run dry.

They put sewers in anywhere.

Especially, I mean, because that's where the wells are. They're in Area B.

So I just actually had Connecticut Water send me, I had additional addresses with questions if they were wells or Connecticut Water customers. I think there's more, closer to at least 40 wells still active.

A lot of us in Erie D. Most of us, I think, are Wells.

I was under the impression that the extensions had water when they came up the street. When they put the water across on Demetri's side of Shore Road. Because that's where the water made it.

We watched it go by. They ripped up our streets, left them with big, giant potholes. And nobody else hooked up. I hooked up because

I'm hooked up to the shore road way. Right, right.

No, so one house on this street has it.

I think except for two of us here on Portland Avenue.

Frank has it at his only at the garage. The house has a well.

But it's one property.

I have to worry, so I'll put together a list and share that with you.

Yeah.

And I think that's important, and important is to know how many people still depend on their wells when we start talking about moving our groundwater away. How many people is that, wells, is that really gonna impact, not just the water? Okay, so anyway. So moving on, the next is public comment. So we're gonna open up the floor and open public comment for anybody online who would like to speak at this time. Phil?

Anybody else? Yeah, this is Bill Randazzo again. I mean, is it okay if I talk?

Yes, go ahead.

You know, we're talking about the well farm that Connecticut Water has at the cross tracks. You know, I don't have the data to say to myself, you know, the well water that they're getting underneath the ground is under a cavern. and in that cavern you know the the well people that are tied in from all the beach associations and and part of the town are tapping into the same wall water are you guys following me yep yeah right so i i'm just concerned that you know we we say that we we might want to keep wells but we're tying into the same well system. So all we're doing is still diminishing the same well water.

Yes.

Right? So we've got to be careful. Right. It's the same cavern underneath the ground that we're all tapping into who has wells, right? And let that be, you know, on the beach association or let that be in town, even if Connecticut water is not supplying the water in town, that well, that cavern underground is still supporting the rest of the town or part of the town, wherever it is. So we've got to be very careful how we talk about this, because I don't think anybody has done any analysis of how much water we actually have here and how much Connecticut water or the rest of the town could survive on what's there.

Bill, we just came from a Selectman's meeting and I don't know if you know him, Joe Camion brought that up completely tonight. I mentioned to him that these wells have been running dry for a couple of years besides not having um, were under drought conditions. I mean, just by the sheer, sheer usage, you know, uh, of the wells. And he brought that up to the selectman tonight. Uh, he did a comparison, um, and, uh, he's going to go back to deep and why deep hasn't been able to answer him is when was the last time they had any, um, study done on the water that we have right now versus how much we had 10 years ago or 15 years ago. And what you're going to find is we're running a deficit.

And you know something, and I appreciate your answer. That's honest and complete. I think what they've got to do is, you know, some towns have inland wetland committees that actually monitor this. you actually have the Army Corps of Engineers that actually could do, they have the technology to actually locate the vats of water that are underground. And we have to do that. Because right now, from what I'm hearing tonight, right, is Connecticut water at some point is going to run out of their well water, right? And when they run out of their well water, It's every beach association that's attached to their system is out of water. And where do you go from there? That's my biggest, that's one of my concerns. I mean, there's other things that are going on that we could talk privately on, but that's my concern. If somebody's got to look at a very much higher level than Connecticut water, Like you guys said, Connecticut Water is bringing in water from wherever it is, Westbrook or Guilford. They're trucking in water all the time, right? Just to meet the criteria that you guys have there in O-Line right now. What's going to happen when the rest of these shoreline communities are on full water, or excuse me, on water, but on a full septic system and decide to move down there full time? How are you going to support that?

That's the question that we've been asking, you know, why would we want to send, if I can remember correctly, it was 153,000 gallons of wastewater every day to out of the town with not having 153,000 gallons of water coming back in to replace it.

Well, that's the thing. You're taking groundwater and you're shipping it to London.

That's a problem. One of the things that he was talking about, and I can verify it because I had New Haven for New Haven engineering system for a customer, is the state of Connecticut would like to see... Regional Water Authorities, that is a collection of towns coming together and pooling their water together. They have it up at Mansfield, where UConn is, big water draw. They have it in Litchfield. They have it in New Haven, which does... like Bridgeport, New Haven, Shelton, and Sonia.

Well, you have it right there in Waterford, too. You've got the reservoir in Waterford.

Right.

And those are massive.

They're massive.

They're massive, but with the dry spells, they're diminishing.

Yeah, correct. That's Metropolitan District. You and I and Mary come from the northern end of Connecticut, and the NDC has the biggest... availability of water and undersea caverns to to keep that water clean and they they tend to go dry go to highland lake and you can see the old bridge that's in highland lake now you know so i know exactly what you're talking about completely empty the inches of water so but that's that's where you know they're people are are listening and and i think uh um i think um joe and his uh And his thought process of keeping on with deep is going to help clarify what is actually going to happen here.

Okay. Dennis, I also have big questions about when you're talking about the aquifers and everything else of all the stormwater projects that they're starting. So now they're going to be collecting with curbs water from the 156th and bring it all the way down the street to Sheffield Brook, you know, to the brooks to put it right out to the swim area. So not only are you taking water from the aquifers, from the wells, from everything else, you're now trucking it right down to the swim area.

Yeah.

You know, so not only with the water.

There are 36-inch pipes going into old lime shores and Sheffield Brook.

So all that rainwater that used to go into the ground is now just getting piped directly out to the, you know, out to the Long Island Sound, which for many reasons doesn't seem like a great plan.

Right. Billy, you know, I hear what you're saying, and that makes a lot of, you know, it's like I'm hearing deja vu from California. You know, all the water they have out there, but what's happening? and and you bring up a great point the only problem you have is like you know the other gentleman was mentioned mdc is when you start having these big caverns or vats of water or storage areas to contain it you got to be able to have areas to purify that water too before it gets distributed right so there's a there's a there's a big difference the rain water is one thing right and it's great to capture it if you could but capturing it doesn't mean you could use it what it means is you have water that you have to purify before it goes into the system right

I still think everything that you're not allowing to go in the ground is just obviously taking more and bringing it directly to New London or taking it directly and pumping it straight into Long Island Sound without letting the soil.

Bill, what you're saying is right. Bill, what you're saying is right. But, you know, the aquifers are down 150 to 400 feet in the ground. And for that water to penetrate down there when you get a rainstorm, It takes years.

Well, we do have aquifers that are very shallow all throughout these beaches. We've had one right near your house down here. When they were digging the foundation, there was a running stream that almost washed away their house. So there are aquifers and moving water very close to the level.

You're absolutely right, but that aquifer... It still has to be processed with the water. You just can't use it.

Before it's drinkable, yeah, but it's...

I mean, it's good for a toilet, but I wouldn't drink it.

I'll drink my water any day. Me too. I had it tested, and I go down 35 feet with my dog well.

I think that Joe Cameron earlier today was talking about the brook near him going dry.

Yeah.

And that's an example of what his concern is.

Okay.

We have to move on. All right. So we're going to close.

But anyways, thanks for letting me talk, guys. I appreciate it. Okay.

No problem. We're going to close public comment now. So old business, comedy modifications. Some of the things we're talking about are changing stronger letters to the haulers, following up on cars that are, being returned by the post office. The other thing is updating when the file gets updated. So Carmody is very accommodating. They are happy to receive a file at no extra charge from the town to update the list that is then created to populate the Carmody system for old on. They're more than willing to help us with that. They're more than willing to tailor any kind of report that we want, which needs to be tailored because the one we get is not that user-friendly, and to work with us. So all of that is covered by our contract and by our annual payment. So we are going to take advantage of that. The assessor's office is also more than willing to work with us and help us to feed Carmody files that they need directly. I'm going to try using that for a little bit so that we can do it more often. I don't think that once a year is enough. I think we should at least be doing it on a quarterly basis to see if we get better results with that. I think that we should accommodate if they produce better reports for us, it'll help us so that we can track those better than what we're doing today. And then we're going to walk to the holidays. So that's the changes that culminate. Sewer ordinance, everyone here has a copy of the draft, or I hope you did, or read it. There's really only two things of significance that can change. We're gonna go from seven to five years for pump-outs for the ordinance. And then the other thing is we do not have a cemetery today, although we may in the future. So what we're changing is we're leaving in everything that a sanitarian would do and say as an agent appointed either by the Board of Selectmen or the WPCF. That's really the basic changes that we're doing. The rest of the ordinance is really pretty much in place. It's more of a wording thing. The only real significant change is the seven to five years. So we're going to present that. Martha has it. Part of it is the enforcement where Ledge Life says that they will not do enforcements of the pump outs, but Martha is also pursuing an agent that will do that for us. So we do have to have an agent who is going to, if we ever do get to that point where we do have to levy $100 per day per diem fine, which is already in the ordinance today, then we have to have a means and the personnel to do that. So she was looking into that first.

And that ordinance has been in existence for a number of years.

Since 2019. That's nothing new.

I'm sorry.

It's nothing new. It just hasn't been utilized. Right.

I'd like to see our proposed ordinance changes moved along In the system here, so we have other eyes look at it other than our committee, so we can get this thing into effect if possible.

Okay. So on the agenda is just to make a motion to move the ordinance, which you will have, forward to the Board of Slepman for their approval.

I make a motion that we move the ordinance and the approved approval. Revised time frame.

I'll second that.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Any objections? Sustains? Motion passes. Great. New business. I really don't have any new business. Anyone at the table have new business? I think we don't, right? General discussion is the last thing before we adjourn. So at this point, if anybody on the board would like to bring up something we haven't already talked about, this is your time to do it.

Well, I think we have to start doing something in a way that we would solve these problems we have. It's a good thing you're doing.

Thank you. Laura.

I would like to see us go after each WPCA, just not on the shoreline, but Rogers Lake, any place that has any septic issues, and it's townwide, we're townwide. We have a thing on the shoreline, but we're a town entity, so... if we have to do a dog and pony show up at Rogers Lake to the Rogers Lake Authority. So, I mean, that's their chance of polluting is polluting a state lake.

I just have a question. Does Rogers Lake have a WPCA or just their general authority? They have a general authority that

that looks over the whole thing. I've always said to Mary, I says, I would never allow any one of my relatives to swim in that lake. Never. Pretty sure they do. My sister lived up there and her septic system was under the first floor house, the house. And it's on top of rock. That doesn't percolate very well.

I do think that they have a WPCX. Anything? Brian?

No, I'm all set for now. Thank you.

Bill Reynolds.

Okay, you might have been gone.

I think I'm all set. Thanks, Mary.

Okay, thank you. And then John Flood is the only other one.

He's not here. I can have a motion to adjourn, please.

I make an act motion, or does Dimitri have his hand up before me?

Dimitri, you can second it, Brian.

I will second or first. Thank you, Dimitri.

Okay, so Brian's going to make the motion. Dimitri, you're going to second.

Yeah.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you, Brian, for coming here.

Yes, sir. That's the end of the meeting. Good night, everyone.