Draft Greenridge Decision Favors Aquarion

Aquarion would begin construction immediately to provide water to Brookfield's Greenridge district rather than a United Water plan that would have wound its way through Newtown, under a draft decision issued Friday by the departments of Public Health and Energy and Environmental Protection's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.

"The departments have determined that the Aquarion proposal is the best alternative for providing water to the Greenridge water system," according to the draft decision document. "This determination was made in reviewing both the United and the Aquarion proposals, the risks involved with each proposal, and the benefits associated with each proposal."

The draft decision comes after years of delays in a long-running controversy around providing uncontaminated water to the Greenridge district of Brookfield. High levels of naturally occuring radium and uranium exist in the water. Exposure to high levels of uranium over time may lead to kidney damage.

If finalized, the decision would be a reversal of an earlier order to United Water to pipe water from the Pootatuck aquifer in Newtown to Greenridge – a project that had begun last year .

Newtown, Brookfield and United Water that would have given United the green light, but then Aquarion, , asked , proposing an alternate proposal for Greenridge.

Newtown's land use director George Benson said that he supported the draft decision, particularly because it would help preserve the Pootatuck aquifer and still bring uncontaminated water to Greenridge.

"It's the best decision they could come up with," he said.

On the other hand, the decision to side with Aquarion is sure to re-ignite controversy in Brookfield where many Greenridge residents believe the process has taken too long and will eventually cost Brookfield ratepayers more money.

"Mark my words, it's going to cost us more," said Marty Foncello, a former Brookfield first selectman and former president of the Greenridge tax district president, who has been one of the most vocal United Water supporters.

Foncello said he believed the process was weighted in favor of Aquarion, and that officials have not computed the full cost of the project prior to endorsing the Aquarion plan.

"How can they make a decision? On what basis," he asked. "It looked like this was a done deal from the beginning."

Brookfield First Selectman Bill Davidson, , said price and timing considerations were the biggest issues for Greenridge residents.

"Either company can get good water to the Greenridge people," he said. "I think Aquarion can get this done faster."

The draft decision does address cost, saying that the Aquarion plan will cost about $3.25 million, which includes $564,000 in work that United Water must do to the Greenridge system in order for Aquarion to service the area. The United Water plan in contrast would be $3.8 million, but that also includes $1.1 million the company has already spent in consultants, labor, legal and other expenses up to this point, according to the state.

The draft decision does indicate a discrepancy in the per-foot installation costs from each company, with Aquarion's estimates about $100 per foot more than United Water's estimate of $133 per foot. Depending on how much those estimates differ from the actual, project costs may vary widely, according to the state's analysis.

The cost differential may be one reason, regulators also ordered Aquarion to provide construction updates and listing of amounts spent to date no later than Nov. 30. United Water also must provide similar information for the Greenridge portion of the project for which the company would be responsible, according to the draft decision.

In addition, the state agencies said that they will conduct a future proceeding during which they will expore exactly how much United Water already has spent on the project, how much of that "would be termed 'useful'" and a way for the company to recover that money.

United Water has said that if state regulators rule against the company, it intends to move to , possibly from Aquarion.