A state grant has been secured by the Town of Brookfield for a study of putting sewers in certain locations around Candlewood Lake.  The $1.5 half million study would be for the Candlewood Peninsula and Dean and Pocono Road areas.  The anticipated cost of extending sewer lines to about 1200 properties would be millions of dollars.  Assessments would range between 8 and 16 percent of the total value of affected properties. 

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has a Clean Water Fund, which could be tapped to offset some of the cost.  

Brookfield Water Pollution Control Authority chairman Nelson Malwitz says the existing septic systems can eliminate biological waste on these properties, but they are unable to filter out nutrients that can eventually contaminate bodies of water.  He notes that this summer had more town beach closures than Brookfield has ever had due to blue green algae.  There was also a bloom last December, unusual because they typically happen in the summer after rain storms. 

A focus for the first phase would be by the old marketplace across the Still River.  The area includes the historic Brookfield Craft Center.  Malwitz says there are environmental health and safety challenges.  Malwitz suggested Brookfield could use some of the town's share of the federal American Rescue Plan Act money toward this project.  The ARPA Ad Hoc Committee will look into the proposal of using $800,000 to cover most of the $1 million cost. 

The Committee will present ideas to the selectmen in February.  The committee has received a couple of dozen requests from committees, boards and residents, along with hundreds of responses to a public survey sent out last month.