By JAMES NASH, jnash@wiltonvillager.com 

Wilton Villager, August 15, 2006

The pond in Georgetown looking south from the railroad tracks
Photo: alex von kleydorf file-08-11-06

REDDING —People living along Portland Avenue in the Georgetown section of Redding said they were surprised to walk out their homes Friday morning to find the Gilbert and Bennett pond drained and the smell of dead fish in the air.

A faint smell lingered in the neighborhood Wednesday afternoon as Greg Miller stood in front of his Portland Avenue home.

Miller said when he left his home last Friday morning he "flipped out."

"We saw the pond was 12 feet lower than normal," Miller said. "There were fish stuck in the mud, and it smelled like it was low tide."

Portland Avenue resident Diana Debober said she was also surprised to see the pond drained when she looked out the window of her home. "We weren't told they were going to do that," Debober said. "No one around here knew about that."

The 15 acre Gilbert and Bennett pond sits on 55 acres being developed by the Georgetown Land Development Company [GLDC]. The former wire factory shut down in 1989 and a $300 million plan is underway to create a mixed-use community with 416 lofts and apartments, stores, restaurants, a YMCA facility on what was deemed a brownfield site.

The Norwalk River feeds the pond at the northern end and water flows back to the river over the dam. The dam was lifted for inspection Thursday, Aug. 3.

Behind Peter Greco's Portland Avenue home, the backyard slopes gently down to the pond. "Friday morning I was going to work," Greco said Wednesday afternoon, "and I realized the pond was completely empty except for a small stream coming in from the river. You could see the fish trying to find some space there. There were a lot of fish lost. A lot of wildlife. Turtles, frogs, carp, large mouth bass, small mouth bass."

Greco said his well stopped working and he's been getting water from his parents' home a few doors away.

Greco said he contacted a well company and was told emptying the pond changed the static pressure which affected the well. "The well company told me I should wait until the pond fills back up. If nothing improves, then drill another well," he said.

"The thing that was most distressing," Greco said, "is that no one was notified." He was concerned the fish kill upset children in the neighborhood.

Draining began after notifications were given to Redding town as well as state officials, according to GLDC spokesperson Peter Barhydt.

Barhydt said an assessment of the dam required the pond's water level be lowered approximately four feet. But the depth of the pond was overestimated due to silt that had collected on the pond's bottom, and more water was released than initially intended. "Unfortunately there was a fish kill," Barhydt said yesterday, noting dead fish have been removed from the pond.

Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] spokesperson Dennis Schain said his department did know about the release beforehand. "The owners did inform our fisheries division of their intention to lower the water level on the dam," Schain said. "We are, though, investigating to determine if the extent of the work and the lowering they were proposing required notifying our water diversion bureau."

"We are also investigating to determine what happened there and if appropriate follow-up activity is required on our part," Schain said. "We are in conversations with the dam owners about future activities, future work required on the dam, and how that might affect water levels and how that might be properly managed."

"The dam is an older industrial dam," Schain said. "It has had many additions over the years and is in need of repair. We want to make sure any repairs are made properly."

According to Schain, DEP personnel were in the Norwalk River Thursday conducting tests unrelated to the dam activity. When the release occurred, water and sediment samples washed from the pond and were collected by DEP workers. The samples will be analyzed to assess if any threats exist to downstream aquatic life from the release of pond water.

Barhydt said, "We have maintained an open door policy." He noted a consistent GLDC goal has been to be transparent. Barhydt said and the company does not expect any negative findings from DEP tests, adding that GLDC will deal with any determinations and comply with all DEP notification requirements.

Barhydt also said community notification will be addressed when future dam work is undertaken.

Dick Harris, who monitors the Norwalk River under a Harbor Watch/River Watch program, said yesterday a Data Logger - a device used to collect water quality information - was left in the Norwalk River downstream of the Gilbert and Bennett site from the morning of Aug. 5 until the morning of Aug. 9. He said the state minimum oxygen level measure for a swimable river is five milligrams per liter before steps should be taken to improve conditions. The data logger's high point measure over the testing period was 5.90 milligrams per liter, and the low measure came in at 3.61.

Harris said water is oxygenated when it flows over a dam, and he expected higher levels of oxygen will be found in the river with fully recovered pond and dam activity.