“Still crazy after all these years…”
Yup! Still crazy, just like the Paul Simon lyrics.
First, was a public institution. Then, they were an entity and now according to the Office of Environmental Policy they are a water system.
Good one!
According to UConn’s own Water Conservation Plan of May 2011 what they are not is a water company.
When possible (their words, not mine), they address the requirements of General Statute (CGS) Section 25-32a and distribute their plans to interested parties.
At the Public Scoping Meeting held on Jan. 24, 2012 Director of Environmental Policy Richard Miller said the University is a water supply system regulated by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection “for any number of things.”
And, here we go back into UConn’s perpetual ‘do loop’ nebulae of cloudy information! (That’s what happens when you’re not a water company, but a water system.)
Anyway, somewhere back in July 2001 and then Representative recognized this problem, and proposed a bill specifically naming UConn as a ‘water company’ per statute. But alas, as sometimes happens in the hazy, lazy, crazy world of politics, the bill died in committee.
Why should you care?
Excellent question!
Because in its current extralegal status, UConn can dispose and develop its watershed lands; is not subject by statute to wellfield mapping, record keeping, or pricing regulations, just to name a few. And, they are certainly free to travel the lands of Mansfield with divining rods in hand in search of additional portable water. And that is exactly what they intend to do!
For the first time, UConn acknowledged in its 2011 Water Conservation Plan, that it does not have enough water for all its new and planned development projects including the .
In addition to looking for new ground water in the Fenton River aquifer, the EIE plans to evaluate a possible interconnection with the Shinipsit Reservoir through the town of Tolland or an interconnection with the Willimantic Reservoir. Either one of those options would lay pipeline following Rte. 195 (although one option for the Willimantic Reservoir interconnection might run alongside Chaffeeville Road as it’s the shortest distance to the Fenton Pumping Station).
So, (and here’s where it’s “still crazy”) which water company will apply for these proposed interconnections?
Back to the do loop we go! Remember? UConn is not a water company.
“Oh, still crazy
Still crazy
Still crazy after all these years.” (Paul Simon)
