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Ground broken for Eureka Water Storage Tank in Bethel

After a six year stalemate between Bethel and Danbury, ground has been broken for a water tank near Long Ridge Road.  Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker says a water storage tank is needed on town-owned land within Danbury city limits at Eureka Lake.  He says it's needed to handle what the state health department says is a water shortage in the downtown district.  The plans date back 10 years, but even as early as the 1960s there were plans to put a tank by the reservoir, but it never materialized.

 

The City's Planning Commission time and again denied the request saying the area is designated as scenic.   Bethel filed a lawsuit, but agreed to drop it last year when Danbury approved new plans to build the 750,000 gallon tank further into the woods.  Knickerbocker says that option is more costly than the original design, but less costly than going to an alternative site. That would have involved underground mains being moved and elevated tanks being constructed that could be seen for many miles.

 

Actual construction will begin in early September, and with a winter break, will be completed in the spring.  The tank will be fully operational by mid-summer 2016.  There will be no disruption to residents in the area because the water mains are already in place.  The lines will have to be extended to the tank, but that's on Bethel property.

 

Knickerbocker says this project will benefit Danbury residents because plans call for installing an active fire hydrant there.  He says the current nearest one is about a mile away.

 

No new industrial development can take place in Clarke Park because of the storage issue. It's a fragile system, sensitive to any kind of disruption. Knickerbocker says any kind of pressure change causes rust to dislodge.

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Brian Kilmeade

Local Headlines