56°
NORWALK, Conn. – UPDATE, 8:50 A.M. - At his morning briefing, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy stated that all sewage treatment plants are up and running statewide after several were shut down or were threatened by floodwaters. This includes Norwalk, and it is safe to use toilets again.
ORIGINAL STORY: Due to the amount of water the tides and Hurricane Sandy are dumping into the city, the Norwalk Wastewater Treatment Plant on South Smith Street is in jeopardy of failing, and it could be shut down for weeks.
At a Monday evening press conference at police headquarters, Norwalk Public Work Director Harold Alvord said the city will likely shut down the facility an hour before the next high tide, which is scheduled to be at 12:08 a.m. Tuesday.
“The water from the last high tide has not receded, so the system will likely be overwhelmed,” Alvord said. “We’re almost certain to lose operation of the plant.”
During Hurricane Irene in 2011, the city nearly had to shut down the facility because it almost dumped too much water for the plant to process, Alvord said, but it avoided a shutdown by a couple of feet. Hurricane Sandy is dumping more water into the region due to tidal surges that are being increased by a full moon and some of the city’s pump stations are also straining to keep up.
If the plant is shut down, it could take weeks to dry out and repair submerged treatment and pumping equipment, Alvord said, and the city is already contacting contractors to be ready to begin those repairs as soon as possible.
The repercussions of a lengthy plant shutdown could eventually be felt throughout the city, particularly in low-lying areas. Essentially, untreated or partially treated sewer water would end up being discharged directly in Long Island Sound, and in some cases household toilets could begin backing up.
Alvord said that whenever possible, residents should try to limit their water and toilet usage over the next few days, and possibly next few weeks to help the plant ease back into service.
“We’re asking people to try like the dickens not to use too much water,” Alvord said.
The storm, which has grown stronger over the late afternoon and evening, has resulted in about 3,300 households losing power, said Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia. But city crews have been pulled off the road for the rest of Monday night because the darkness and high winds make tree and other work too difficult.
“We have reports of a tremendous number of trees and power lines down,” said Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik.
The paddle wheel boat, the Bell Island, broke its dock and mooring at Veterans Memorial Park in East Norwalk late Monday afternoon, but police and fire personnel were able to help secure it across the Norwalk River to a dock on the Water Street side, said Norwalk Fire Chief Denis McCarthy.
Approximately 150 people were at the temporary shelter at Brien McMahon High School as of about 5 p.m. Monday, Moccia said, and more were expected to arrive there Monday night. The facility can hold about 450 people.
Comments (6)
When will we hear an update? For how long will it be shut down?
Plant IS shut down, according to the hour, and raw sewage could back up into homes.
That boat, the Island Belle, should never have been allowed to run a business at a City Park and tie up to a City Visitor's dock never intended for vessels that big. City officials and the boat owner were warned and chose to ignore warnings. Now the warnings have been proven all too accurate and we are lucky nobody was seriously injured trying to save the boat and relocate it, during a terrible storm.
If the mayor knows anything, now would be a good time to withdraw the City's application for a change in the dock permit to allow "unrestricted commercial use" of docks intended for much smaller private boats, both visitor's and norwalk resident's. Events have proven how foolish such a change would be. Who pays to repair/replace the broken dock ?
Heard the Harbor Master skipped town on Saturday....didn't want to be here when the ship hit the fan. He and the people at Parks and Rec and yes, the mayor himself all should have known better. Harbor Commission warned them. Army Corps of Engineers warned them. Shellfish Commission warned them, Coast Guard warned them. But Parks and Rec and the Harbormaster saw $$$ and safety and the public good flew out the window. Now they should be called to answer for their short sighted foolishness.
Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia, with Public Works Director Harold Alvord in the background,
Or in other words DUMB AND DUMBER
And on a side note
No sign of Moccia's hand picked police chief during this storm..Is he at work or at home in Stratford??????
They do make it awful easy to criticize, but, this weekend we need to cut them a little slack. They both are probably a little short on sleep as it has been tough on the City and on them. When things get back to something like normal we can count on them giving us more reasons to question their judgements. I am hoping moccia learned a little something that all who disagree are not necessarily enemies. Some who disagree the loudest are trying hardest to serve the city's interests, as they see them. That whole mess with the Island Belle was predicted and was so easy to avoid a long time ago. There are a lot of us who question how that ship ever got to stay there for any length of time. We wonder if the arrangements were all above board or not.