After four years of development, the state Department of Environmental Protection has proposed sweeping new guidelines to regulate stream flow standards for Connecticut’s rivers and streams, raising concerns among water utility companies whose officials say the rules could lead to water shortages and rate increases for consumers.
But state officials and environmentalists say the new guidelines strike an essential balance between protecting stream flow needs to support human uses, while maintaining the ecological health of the state’s waters.
Betsey Wingfield, the chief of the state DEP’s water protection and land reuse bureau, said that balance is not currently being met in the state, causing certain streams to suffer from severe water flow shortages, which puts their aquatic life in jeopardy.
“The proposed regulations are about promoting better, more-efficient management of our water supplies so that all needs can be met,” Wingfield said.
The new rules update the state’s more than 30 year-old stream flow regulations and expand the standards to all rivers and streams in the state, rather than only those stocked with fish, as was the case previously. The effect would be that water is redirected to more rivers and streams and out of public use.
State lawmakers mandated the revisions in 2005, in direct response to the 10-year long dispute over the Shepaug River in Waterbury, which the city diverted water from in order to augment its drinking water supply.
The city was brought to court over the matter in the late 1990s, after certain groups complained that Waterbury’s diversion of the water, especially during the summer months, was causing the stream to run low, threatening its aquatic life.
State officials eventually stepped in on the matter, helping both sides reach a tentative agreement, which included requiring Waterbury to reduce the amount of water it removed from the river during warmer months.
The new regulations were developed by multiple advisory groups, which included members from state and federal government agencies, environmental groups, scientists, utility companies, and trade associations.
Best Science
They were also based on the “best available science” and require two separate actions be taken.
First, they call for all rivers and streams in the state to be classified into one of four classes, with each class representing a different balancing of human use and ecological health priorities.
In class “one” waters, priority is given to protecting ecological health. In class “four” waters, support of human activities is weighted most heavily. Class “two” and “three” waters have intermediate balance points between ecological and human uses, DEP said.
The majority of dam operators will be releasing water to a class 3 resource, DEP said.
Once classification is complete, a process that will likely take at least five years, a series of requirements are imposed on dam operators that divert water away from the streams. Essentially, dam owners will be required to make minimum water releases and/or limit their ground water withdrawals from streams or rivers during certain “bioperiods” in order to support stream ecology. The amount of water they have to release, and the time of year they have to release it, will vary based on a stream’s classification.
A bioperiod is a specific time of year when certain biological processes that depend on the seasonal variability of stream flow rates occur. For example, in Connecticut, the highest flows of the year typically occur in March and April, which help to maintain natural habitat formation in the stream channel.
The proposed regulations establish different stream flow requirements for six separate bioperiods, ensuring that the seasonal variability in natural stream flow rates is maintained to support a healthy ecology.
In addition, operators diverting water from rivers or streams through pumping may only alter stream flow by a maximum amount based on bioperiods.
The regulations also take into account whether it is a “dry” or “wet” period, allowing water utilities to reduce the amount of water they release if there is an increased risk of a drought, or increase it during times of excessive rainfall.
The new requirements would be phased in over time to allow dam owners to adjust their operations without disrupting water supply. In some cases, dam operators may need to modify their dam’s infrastructure to comply with the new rules or install monitoring equipment.
Going Too Far
lizabeth Gara, executive director of The Connecticut Water Works Association, which represents water utility companies, said her organization supports the goal of preserving marine life, but that the proposed regulations go too far.
“Unfortunately, they may wind up protecting the state’s aquatic life to the detriment of human life,” Gara said.
Gara said CWWA is concerned that the amount of water required to be released from reservoirs and the limits on groundwater withdrawals, will jeopardize public safety and health by severely limiting the amount of water available for public use, potentially causing some utilities to impose frequent and lengthy water-use restrictions.
She said the new rules could also undermine economic recovery in many areas of the state by reducing the amount of water supplies available for day-to-day business operations and forcing moratoriums on new construction and expansion in some communities hit hard by the regulations.
Additionally, she said the regulations will impose costly burdens on towns and cities, including multi-million dollar costs to modify dams and pipes, develop new reservoirs and storage capacity, and hire additional personnel.
All of those factors could “significantly increase customer rates in most areas,” Gara said.
The town of Southington, which gets most of its water from groundwater wells, could be losing 50 percent of its water supply under the proposed rules, according to Tom West, superintendent of the Southington Water Department, which serves 12,000 residents and businesses.
West said the town withdraws about 8 million gallons of water a day, but under the new regulations it would be restricted to 4 million gallons.
He said right now the town has enough water to supply existing customers with some room for growth, even in the middle of the summer.
But the new regulations would prevent them from adding more homes or businesses to their water system, and require existing customers to use less water, unless they are able to locate new sources of supply.
“The proposed regulations will have a significant impact on the amount of water I can pull out of the ground,” West said.
Margaret Miner, executive director of the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, said the proposed stream flow regulations are balanced, and do provide adequate protections for water utilities.
“We believe that in New England there is enough water available to keep rivers healthy and cold, and have enough for public use,” Miner said. “If you can’t do it here, you can’t do it anywhere.”
Preventing Droughts
Miner said the new regulations are necessary to prevent the state from having frequent man made droughts during the summer. She said there are about 30 rivers and streams in Connecticut that suffer annually from low flows in warmer months, and a handful of those rivers actually dry up.
She said water utilities may be forced to raise rates only because water in the state tends to be priced at market value, oftentimes excluding the costs of infrastructure upgrades.
In its proposed guidelines, the DEP said that consumers “may experience a modest increase in the cost of water to offset the costs of maintaining water supply infrastructure or to develop new supplies that will insure water is available even if extreme drought occurs.”
Wingfield said DEP doesn’t expect full compliance with the rules until as late as year 16, after the rules have been approved, which should give water utilities enough time to comply without effecting customer services.
She added that the Shepaug River case serves as an example of how smart and responsible stream flow regulations can work effectively.
DEP is accepting public comments and has scheduled public hearings on the proposed regulations. The final rules will need to be approved by a standing committee in the state legislature.
