MDC - Clean Water Project

Many of our sewers are over 100 years old. We’re facing dangerous waste backups and major water pollution.

Every time it rains in West Hartford, it’s a reminder that our sewage and drainage systems are at risk of serious overload. The heavier the rain, the more ominous the conditions.

Why? The system, was designed to keep sewage separate from drainage–in separate pipes. But as the system has aged, cracks in sewer pipes let more and more groundwater in where it shouldn’t be. The problem is compounded by the unauthorized use of sump pumps, roof leaders, and illegal drainage connections that send storm water to sewage pipes.

Now, during rainy weather, storm water frequently fills sewage pipes beyond their capacity and they overflow. Residents of West Hartford see the results with overflowing manholes, basement backups, and even raw sewage discharges into Trout Brook and the South Branch of the Park River. And it’s getting worse.

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

The District recently reached a Consent Decree with the United States Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate these illegal discharges within 12 years.

The Clean Water Project will improve the sewer system in West Hartford and other MDC towns. The project will reduce sewer overflows into local waterways; increase the sewer system capacity in West Hartford and enable the MDC sewer system to bring more waste to the Hartford Water Pollution Control Facility for treatment.