Old Lyme — Town Hall’s meeting room was at capacity during Tuesday night's Water Pollution Control Authority meeting with members of the town’s beach community and other residents ready to comment on a proposed Municipal Sewer Ordinance. 

The ordinance outlines a plan for a shared pump station and forced main pipe between Old Colony Beach, Old Lyme Shores Beach, Miami Beach and Sound View Beach, which would send sewage through East Lyme and to New London’s treatment plant.

The ordinance also requires residents of the beach communities affected to pay for the implementation of gravity sewers in their personal homes and fees associated with maintenance.

First Selectman Timothy Griswold estimates the total cost of the project to be around $20 million with some relief from state grants and hopes to obtain more relief from the American Rescue Plan and other federal grant money.

The WPCA held the meeting to hear the public and then consider the comments in amending the plan. It would next go through the town’s legal offices and onto the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection before returning to the Board of Selectman as a proposed ordinance on which the entire town would vote. 

Rich Prendergast, chair of the WPCA, said the estimated timeline would put the town meeting to vote at about the end of July — which is when most beach residents would be in the area — though he said scheduling is ultimately up to the Board of Selectman.

Tony Zema, a resident of Portland Avenue who spoke on Tuesday, questioned why the town would vote on an ordinance that specifically would impact his community. Zema is concerned about the implications that the sewer ordinance makes regarding non-compliance issues.

“As homeowners, we have a compliant septic system. We pump it and do as the town asks,” he said.

He is worried that, in sections, the ordinance states that “monetary penalty and forfeiture” could result if a homeowner is unable to afford the high cost of gravity sewer implementation or if they are unwilling.

The cost per household is being estimated by what is called an equivalent dwelling unit, or EDU, which is a unit that accounts for average livable building square footage of 1,242 square feet. The WPCA website states that for a typical house of one EDU, the cost of the sewer ordinance would be around $31,007, which could be financed over 20 years at 2% interest and cost a homeowner $944 every six months. Those with larger square footage would have a higher cost. The figures were projected in 2019, and the board and community acknowledge that prices for labor and materials may have increased.

Mary Daley, a member of the Sound View Sewer Coalition, said there are more cost-effective alternatives, such as Geomatrix engineered wastewater systems, where waste travels through gravel, sand or soil and through the process becomes purified. She is worried that the topography of Sound View does not support gravity pumps, and that the new ordinance could create groundwater issues.

She said when groundwater recedes, the structural integrity of buildings could become dangerous as beams exposed to oxygen become compromised, similar to cases in Stamford and Boston. Saltwater intrusion could also happen as ocean water fills in where groundwater has receded.

Daley also questions the validity of the data from DEEP indicating that there is significant pollution from the current septic setups and ordinance, which requires pump-out every seven years.

“There hasn’t been (environmental) testing since the current pump-out ordinance. The data is over 10 years old,” she said. The DEEP could not be reached for comment.

The WPCA acknowledges the public’s concerns but contends the ordinance is for the greater good.

"I understand some people are generally upset, and there are some misconceptions," Prendergast said. "I believe the sewer ordinance will not only protect our town, but also the neighboring towns."