Protect the Partrick Wetlands
and our Community
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The RTM Finance Committee did the entire Town a great service Monday night and they should be thanked. They realized that the questions hanging over the WPCA's (Water Pollution Control Authority) decision to approve a request for a permit to sewer the Partrick Wetlands needed to be reviewed. Reviewed for its financial implications and reviewed because of the impact it would cause to a community and wetlands.
Selectman Carl Leaman, attending this meeting, agreed the WPCA decision needed to be reviewed. And that is now what will happen. The RTM committee voted for it, Leaman and Selectman John Izzo, who also attended, agreed to it and a promise has been made to the public that can't be broken. A full and transparent review and revisiting of the issues is what will be expected and I'm sure that will occur.
The WPCA made a mistake 18 months ago when they approved a request for a permit for a sewer extension through northwestern Westport because the effluent went to Norwalk instead of Westport. The state Department of Environmental Protection pointed this error out last month saying, they "did not find an exception for the Partrick Wetlands" in the town's sewer plan and that it did not matter which town the sewer hooked into.
This simple mistake could have cost an entire community its character and a wetlands its vibrance. We look forward to the WPCA meeting and discussing this issue and laying it rest.
Bert Aber, Westport