Simsbury Officials Pleased With UConn Water Supply Decision

By Kaitlin McCallum and John Fitts

The Connecticut Water Company has been selected by the University of Connecticut’s Board of Trustees to provide water to the Storrs campus and neighboring Mansfield. 

The UConn board finalized the decision at its meeting Wednesday after months of public input on three competing proposals.

It’s welcome news to Farmington Valley residents and officials who loudly objected to a plan from the Metropolitan District Commission to supply the water by diverting millions of gallons out of the Farmington River watershed.

Simsbury First Selectwoman Mary Glassman was one of the MDC plan's critics. 

In an op-ed published in the Hartford Courant Monday, Glassman said, "We applaud reports that the University of Connecticut seems poised to do the right thing by ending the statewide water controversy and rejecting a proposal by Metropolitan District Commission to ship water from the Farmington River across the state to solve UConn's water needs."

Canton First Selectman Richard Barlow agreed and cited public outcry as an influencing factor in the decision.

“On the engineering and economic merits, clearly the MDC option did not appear to be the best choice,” he said. “However, the MDC was aggressively pushing their option. I think the public input certainly countered their position and was very effective.”

While Barlow and other felt an interbasin transfer would have violated the state plan, they also believe the state needs a clear water use policy.

Simsbury State Rep. John Hampton said he is meeting with state department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials next week.

“That will be a top priority,” Hampton said. “We need to make sure this never happens again.”

In addition to the public outcry against the MDC plan, the Connecticut Water proposal was found to be the least expensive, fastest to implement and in line with the state’s Plan of Conservation and Development. The company also volunteered to build the infrastructure at no cost to the state in light of the potential for growth.