Greater Hartford’s aging sewer infrastructure could limit our region’s growth.

Every time it rains in Bloomfield, there are reminders that the MDC District’s aging sewer system—including the core of the system in Hartford—is unable to handle our 21st Century development and population.

Why? First, the original Hartford system was designed to support about 15,000 people. Today the expanded system serves 400,000 people in 6 towns. Sewers more than 150 years old form the backbone of the sewage conveyance to the wastewater treatment plant.

Second, storm water frequently overwhelms the system. Old pipes are cracked, letting groundwater flow in. Homeowner drainage also burdens the system with flows from previously connected – now illegal – roof leaders, sump pumps and yard drains.

Now, during rainy weather, storm water can enter sewage pipes, mix with wastewater and fill the pipes beyond their capacity. These over-full sewers send extra-large flow volumes to the treatment plant. From Bloomfield, Hartford, and four other MDC towns, these sewage flows exceed the facility’s treatment capacity, causing basement backups and discharges of raw sewage to local streams and the Connecticut River.

Over 1 billion gallons of untreated Sewage overflows every year in Greater Hartford
But the MDC has a solution – The Clean Water Project

The MDC District recently reached a Consent Decree with the U.S. Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate illegal discharges from our sewers within 12 years. We are now negotiating a similar agreement with the Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection.