Norwalk oysterman opens water quality testing lab

Earthplace will celebrate the opening of its new water treatment lab on Edgewater Place in Norwalk on Saturday.

[Here we go again]

You would think someone in the crowd would tell us that the power plant does their own testing so if Lajoies pollutes the waters they can't blame it on the power company they both share the same stream going out to sea.

Now the drain sponges something Moccia ran on in the past.Its going to take much more than $50,000 to replace in fact it takes m ore than that to dispose of the old ones that have a shelf life of only a couple of years.

The lab is great now what about Moccia's drain sponges? Nowwalks DPW seems to have been a spokesperson for the sponges all these years why not hear from Hal?

Now its common sense we start hearing about the sponges and how Norwalk has maintained them and replaced them all these years since they were introduced by our city as a partial cure all to some of the problems we are so worried about.

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AbTech's Ultra-Urban filters — filters installed in catch basins, located internally at drain intakes — are sold in a dozen sizes and cost between a few hundred and a thousand dollars apiece, including the suspension hardware. Comprising about 70% of Rink's business, AbTech's Smart Paks — filters that are inserted near the end of the pipes that empty into receiving waters — cost between $100 and $300 each. All Smart Sponge product lines use the same polymer technology. And Rink's original oil-spill product, now called the Passive Skimmer, is still available.

Now to dispose of these filters that cost can match or surpass figures just given,how many does Norwalk have?

[Here we go again]

May 31, 2006
Norwalk Filter Project

The
product is currently being tested as a pilot program in 275 storm water
drains in Norwalk. A federal grant is paying for that project.
On May 18, Norwalk presented the Smart Sponge unit, a
box with an inside mesh-lined basket and a wall made of Smart Sponge
material that hangs just under the catch basin cover and filters storm
water washing through.

a
box with an inside mesh-lined basket and a wall made of Smart Sponge
material that hangs just under the catch basin cover and filters storm
water washing through.“When the water flows through, it removes trash
and debris in the basket; as the water filters through it removes
hydrocarbons (oil products) and fecal coliform (bacteria),”

To keep the unit working at its most efficient levels, the
basket, which traps waste, road sand and other debris, must be cleaned
out periodically

[Here we go again]

It costs
approximately $1,250 to install each unit and keep it cleaned out and
maintained,

“We’ve been searching for over a decade for a cost-effective method of stormwater treatment to protect Norwalk Harbor and Long Island Sound, and we’ve found it with this technology,” said Norwalk Mayor, Richard A. Moccia.“The results speak for themselves.”

Total project cost is just over $500,000,

So now what?

shelf life of these sponges are how long?

[Here we go again]

Under normal operating conditions the entire recyclable Ultra Urban Filter should be replaced every 1–3 years depending on its deployment and the pollutant (hydrocarbon) loading.

Catch basin cleaning is an integral part of any comprehensive stormwater management plan where closed drainage systems are present. The frequency with which catch basins are cleaned should be based on the site specific factors, accumulation volume and quality.

If a catch basin is located in a residential area with low traffic, good street sweeping, minimal possibility of illegal dumping etc. then cleaning may not be required for several months. However, if it is in an urban area with street sanding during winter, high pedestrian traffic with restaurants (trash etc) and perhaps leaf litter, catch basin cleaning may be required more frequently.

AbTech suggests that the customer initiate a plan for regularly scheduled inspections to determine areas with higher accumulations and/or contaminant potential and base your cleaning program on those site-specific situations.[I.e. maintenance facilities, loading docks, intense vehicular-land-use.]

The EPA had no service plan on file from Norwalk,something that was to have transpired from day one.

So Now what?

Lets just see the weight figures for the filters in Norwalk that will tell us all what type of service plan is needed.

[Beth]

you would think the filters cleaned up everything and there was money left over.Something smells fishy.

[Westport]

So are all of those 300 drain sponges full of stuff going back into the water? Wouldn't it make sense to replace then test?

[Westporter]

The Terry guy does a lot