Your Money Down the Drain?
LWV of the Bridgeport Area Position on Water Pollution Controls
The League of Women Voters of the Bridgeport Area has recently completed a study of local
WPCAs and water pollution control options. Our findings of fact and resulting position, which
was adopted on August 29, 2011, are:
Findings
Currently:
 Monroe has no sewer lines, no sewage treatment plant, and no WPCA.
 Trumbull has a WPCA, sewers that have been installed between 1973 and the current
year, and no sewage treatment plant, and uses Bridgeport’s plant. Trumbull’s sewagetreatment contract with Bridgeport ends in 2012. Bridgeport has announced that it will
not renew at current rates, because it is losing money on the deal. Trumbull has not yet
decided whether or not it favors regionalizing with neighboring towns/cities, nor has it
decided whether or not to contract with Bridgeport for post-2012 sewage processing.
 Bridgeport has a WPCA, sewers that have had some improvement in the last 40 years but
will need upgrading, and two sewage treatment plants, and it claims that the west side
plant is not yet operating at full capacity. Bridgeport does favor regionalizing with
neighboring towns/cities. Because of the design of the pipes, in some areas of the city
Bridgeport cannot separate sewage from storm water. It has been estimated that it will
cost $400,000,000 to separate Bridgeport’s storm-water and sewer systems.
 Stratford has sewers and a sewage treatment plant, but its Town Council operates as its
WPCA; it has no separate committee/board/commission. Stratford does not favor
regionalizing with neighboring towns/cities.
 Shelton has a very small plant of its own and also uses Stratford’s, but Stratford’s plant is
close to capacity and under federal court order not to add any more hookups; and because
much of Shelton’s sewage would have to travel uphill to get to the Stratford plant, pump
stations would be needed. Shelton apparently favors contracting with Stratford; their
lawyers are in negotiation.
Being discussed:
 Bridgeport and Trumbull are discussing “regionalizing” their WPCAs into one board,
subject to one-time payments from the combined “new” WPCA to the City of Bridgeport
of $40,000,000 and to the Town of Trumbull of $10,000,000. These payments would
have to be bonded, so that the new WPCA would be $50,000,000 in debt before actually
going into operation.
In the near future:
 If Monroe decides to install sewers, it will also have to decide how to process the waste.
Its three options are to contract with Stratford (but note capacity problems), build its own
plant (query location) or contract/regionalize with Bridgeport and/or Trumbull, in which
case it will have to use Trumbull’s sewers and/or plants. (Trumbull claims this will put an
unfair burden on Trumbull’s taxpayers, who paid for those sewers and who will have to
pay for maintenance; cost-sharing has apparently not been discussed).
 If Trumbull decides to build its own sewage-treatment plant, the probable location would
be on the southern edge of Town, near the cinemas off Route 25, and the base cost will be
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in the vicinity of $100,000,000. In addition, Trumbull would then have to find a way to
discharge the effluent. It cannot run the discharge into the Pequonnock River, because
the river flows through Beardsley Park, a recreation area. If Trumbull wants to use
Bridgeport’s sewers to discharge the effluent into Long Island Sound, it will have to pay
for the use of the existing pipes or pay for the construction of new pipes, or both; that
cost has yet to be determined. If Trumbull wants to use Fairfield’s sewers, the same
financial considerations would apply, and Fairfield has so far not expressed much interest
in Trumbull’s informal offer of $95,000,000.
The company that runs Bridgeport’s sewage-treatment plant estimates that costs will
double if Bridgeport and Trumbull regionalize.
Everyone predicts higher costs even if all the towns in the area maintain the status quo.
Position
The League of Women Voters of the Bridgeport Area supports the creation of a new regional
Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) through ratification by both the City of Bridgeport
and the Town of Trumbull. This agreement should not preclude future opportunities for
additional municipalities to join.
Such an agreement will support the need of Trumbull to discharge its effluent in the most timely
and efficient method, and will support Bridgeport’s on-going requirements to upgrade its sewer
system. Both Bridgeport and Trumbull should share in the selection of a professional
management team. Each should have proportionate representation on the Authority's board with
Bridgeport having at least a bare majority. The possibility of a supermajority vote on certain
issues could be considered.
The League of Women Voters of the Bridgeport Area DOES NOT support the proposal that the
new regional WPCA make lump sum payments of many millions of dollars to the participating
municipalities.
In theory these payments by the new WPCA, are for the ownership of the existing Bridgeport
and Trumbull sewer systems. However to make these payments, the new WPCA will be obliged
to issue bonds and increase its user fees to reflect bond costs. Since both Bridgeport’s and
Trumbull’s previous user fees have already paid for the existing sewer systems, such lump sum
payments and additional bonding fees will impose a double payment for the existing system.
Both Bridgeport and Trumbull are close to 90% sewered; therefore these payments will harm
almost all citizens and businesses.
Such bonding, if approved, should not be directed toward municipal General Funds but should
address physical improvements to the sewer system. Therefore, we repeat, the League of
Women Voters of the Bridgeport Area does not support lump sum payments to the
municipalities.
The League of Women Voters of the Bridgeport Area supports the appointment of members to
the regional Authority with staggered terms longer than two years, and with members properly
screened for qualifications. All meetings should be public except as limited by state law.