Water supply and watershed
Water-gate? Extreme Drought Continues While Stewart Drinking Water Well Sale Comes Under Increased Fire
Press Pool New Britain continues to be under “Extreme Drought” conditions, according to the United States Drought Monitor. The news comes as the plans by Republican Mayor Erin Stewart to sell a high-yield drinking city water well come under increased fire, with state legislation proposed in response to the sale. The well sale has come […]
Rep. Lopes Bill Requires Fair Market Value For City To Sell Wells, Watershed Land
By John McNamara State Rep. Rick Lopes (D-24) has filed a bill requiring municipalities or water companies to “complete a fair market appraisal of any property encompassing a watershed, well or reservoir before such property may be sold, and to make such appraisal public at least 90 days prior to such sale.” The legislation (6481) […]
City Hall Watch: Stewart Wants More Money For Tilcon Watershed Study; Costs To Exceed $350K
By John McNamara The Stewart administration is seeking an additional $17,500 for an environmental study of Tilcon Inc.’s long-term plan to lease city watershed for trap rock mining. The extra cost is up for consideration at the December 14th Common Council meeting and follows the June 2016 Common Council approval of a $337,000 no-bid contract […]
League of Women Voters to Hold Forum on Watershed Mining Proposal
News Brief The New Britain Area League of Women Voters is holding a forum to discuss the proposal of Mayor Erin Stewart (R) to allow mining on New Britain’s drinking watershed land. The League of Women Voters said, in a statement that, “The New Britain Area League of Women Voters is presenting a forum on the […]
Forum Held in Opposition to Watershed Mining and Mining Effects on Neighborhoods
Press Pool Story Protect Our Watersheds CT hosted a forum at which residents who live in vicinity of the Tilcon open-pit rock quarry express concerns about, “noise from the mining operation, tremors from the blasts, cracks in the walls,” as well as concerns about, “dust hanging in the air,” and “chemical residues.” Residents were invited to […]
Alderman Questions Stewart on Well Sale in Light of Water Supply Alert
By Emmanuel (Manny) Sanchez In both a press release and an NBC interview roughly two weeks ago, Mayor Erin Stewart stated we are in a “first water alert”. But all facts and statistics show that we’ve been in one since May. I was also informed that the City was at 39.72% capacity when that press release […]
Stewart Admits to Water Supply Alert
Press pool story Just one day after the New Britain Independent broke the news that New Britain is in a “water supply alert” due to low capacity in the city’s reservoirs, Erin Stewart, the city’s mayor, has admitted to the alert condition. As the Independent reported, New Britain Deputy Public Works Director for Utilities, Gil Bligh […]
New Britain in a “water supply alert”.
New Britain is in a “water supply alert” according to a report given by New Britain Deputy Public Works Director for Utilities, Gil Bligh. Bligh gave this report at the September 13th meeting of the New Britain Board of Water Commissioners. Bligh also reported that the New Britain reservoirs were at “52.9% capacity as of August 31, […]
Forum Challenges Mining on Drinking Water Land
News Brief The environmental group, Protect Our Watersheds Connecticut, held a public forum for a crowded room of concerned residents about the proposal by New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart and the Tilcon corporation to mine rock on city drinking watershed land. The forum was held on Thursday, September 22nd at the New Britain Public Library. […]
Common Council Votes to Sell Well Despite Protests
By Larry Clark Copy Editor On Wednesday, August 10, the New Britain Common Council voted to allow the Mayor to go into negotiations for the sale of the Patton Brook Well, despite the protest outside Town Hall before the Common Council meeting and multiple town members who spoke against selling the water asset. The vote […]
The Selling Of Patton Brook Well: Will New Britain Get A Fair Price To Help Southington Address Its Water Crisis?
—– Mayor Stewart’s Lowered $1 Million Price Drastically Undervalues Patton Brook Well —– By John McNamara Contributing Columnist A Monday, July 11th public hearing at New Britain City Hall will take up a proposed sale of the city’s Patton Brook Well in Southington as that town’s water commission faces growing challenges to address its need […]
New Britain Advances Towards Watershed Deal With Tilcon
By Nathan Cheatham Executive Editor The Common Council is moving forward on plans to expand gravel quarry operations in the Shuttle Meadow Watershed. On June 8th, the council approved spending $396,700 for an environmental study on the impact of changing the use of the water company lands surrounding the Tilcon Connecticut Inc quarry operations on […]