A steel plate is in the sidewalk along West Street in Danbury near the railroad overpass so the Department of Public Works can monitor and evaluate how the river is backing up to an existing pipe, causing roadway flooding.  Director Antonio Iadarola says there's a 12-inch pipe allowing the water into the river, but the recent dredging resolved some of the flooding during minor rain storms. 

Iadarola says one problem with fixing the flooding is that there's a dam involved, which means the Army Corps of Engineers would have to be involved. There's also an enormous amount of utilities along West Street.  The major interceptor coming in from the westside runs under that bridge.  The old interceptor was abandoned in place.  There are three sets of underground conduits with communications equipment from the 1920s and power lines along both sides of the gutter. 

Iadarola is looking to see if there's a way to install a pipe to mitigate some of the flooding.  He wants to use the old interceptor, built in the 1918 era.  The factory that used to operate nearby utilized a lot of water, but the water elevation is no longer being lowered since the factory isn't in operation.  Iadarola says the channel is bone dry now. 

A surveyor recently took measurements of the last flood to submit to FEMA.  But Iadarola cautioned that it won't resolve the issue entirely.  It would only accommodate smaller storms, like a 5 year or 10 year storm.