Officials gathered Thursday at the Metropolitan District’s main wastewater treatment facility in Hartford to cut the ribbon on a piece of infrastructure meant to help combat combined sewer overflows.
The South Hartford Tunnel Pump Station is part of a multi-billion dollar project aimed at improving public health and environmental quality, according to the Metropolitan District, or MDC.
“The purpose for the tunnel is really simple,” said Scott Jellison, the MDC’s CEO. “When it rains here in our district, in the Hartford region, the storm water mixes with our sewer system and it causes overflows to the Connecticut River, to basements, to streets.”
With the tunnel and pump station system, Jellison said, “we’ve got full separation.”
“That’s a great thing for our community,” Jellison said.
The pump station conveys storm- and wastewater from a four-mile tunnel extending beneath Hartford and West Hartford that sits 200 feet below the ground to the main treatment plant, where the water is treated before flowing into waterways.
Emma Cimino, acting commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said the system would help combat sewer backups in places like North Hartford with a long history of sewage and flooding problems.
“It’s just really important to talk about the water quality aspect but also the public health aspect,” Cimino said. “When we prevent these overflows, we’re also helping to address the sewer backups in the North End.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, a Democrat representing Connecticut’s 2nd District, spoke at the ribbon-cutting despite the project not being located in his district. He said that was no mistake – he represents communities downstream of the Connecticut River affected by contaminants that enter upriver.
“When you’re talking about Chester and Deep River and Essex, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, the coastal areas there – I get asked about this issue,” Courtney said. “The benefits of this are for the whole state and, frankly, for Long Island Sound and our neighboring state of New York.”
The MDC said the pump station cost $138 million, with about half of that sum coming from DEEP grants and half from low-interest state loans.
