The Hartford Courant
CARA SOLOMON; Courant Staff Writer
December 07, 2000
Town officials from Durham and Middlefield went on the attack Wednesday, saying they doubt a private water company can service their residents — even before that company has finished its feasibility study.
The towns are trying to wrest control of their water supply from AquaSource, which owns exclusive rights to provide water to residences along Main Street in Durham and in the eastern part of Middlefield. Officials want to tap into the town of Middletown's water supply to fix the problem of water contamination in those areas. But AquaSource will not give up its rights.
In September, Durham First Selectman Raymond Kalinowski requested that AquaSource complete a feasibility plan for providing service within 90 days. With three weeks left until the deadline, the parties met Wednesday in Clinton at the annual Water Utilities Coordinating Committee for a progress report.
"We're well on our way to having a plan complete," said Chris Till, the water systems manager for AquaSource.
But town officials hammered away at the company, demanding specifics on what the study would include. They wanted to know, for example, how much a gallon of water would cost under the AquaSource plan, and whether that price would be competitive with quotes from Middletown.
"I think the concern here is that it's going to be too general," Middlefield Town Attorney Mark Branse said of the study.
Town officials pushed the committee to schedule a meeting in January to review AquaSource's report. But Jim McQueen, the committee's commissioner, said he felt the move was premature, and assumed the towns would find fault with the report.
"At the present time, there is reason to believe the conflict will go away within a few weeks," McQueen said. "Maybe I'm looking through rose-colored glasses."
The meeting highlighted longstanding tensions between the towns and AquaSource, which has held exclusive rights for several years. The towns argue that AquaSource has not made any effort to find alternate sources of water for residents, who are now on filtered well water. And AquaSource has insisted that the towns have rebuffed its attempts to get involved in the discussion over solutions to the contamination problem.
The towns first brought the matter of exclusive water rights before the committee last year. But the committee deferred the matter to the state Department of Public Utility Control, which deliberated for eight monthsand then said it had no jurisdiction over the matter.
Committee members voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to hold a Jan. 17 meeting to review the company's report. If the towns do not find AquaSource's report satisfactory, they can appeal to the committee for a decision on the issue of transferring the water rights to Middletown. The only way the committee can revoke AquaSource's rights is if the company refuses to provide service, or if the study reveals it cannot do it in a reasonable time frame of about five years.
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