By CAROLYN MOREAU; Courant Staff Writer
HARTFORD, Ct., Nov 10, 2000 (The Hartford Courant)—It may be a favorite hangout for the see-and-be-seen crowd, but the prevailing scent in West Hartford's upscale shopping center right now is the decidedly untrendy eau de sewage.
The stench is occurring because, somehow, a sewer pipe in the center got wrongly connected to the storm water disposal system. Instead of flowing directly to the sewage treatment plant, the effluent is directed through culverts under Farmington Avenue and LaSalle Road, allowing putrid gases to waft up from storm drains and raw sewage to dribble into Trout Brook.
The center had a similar problem a year ago, when it was discovered that several buildings on Farmington Avenue had their toilets inadvertently connected to the storm water drainage, not the sewage system. Those problems were promptly fixed by building owners.
"We had stuff flowing into Trout Brook that we did not want to see," said Ron Van Winkle, community services director.
But when the smell came back about two weeks ago, it became clear that another sewer pipe had the wrong connection. Low rainfall in October left the sewage festering in the storm drains rather than being flushed straight through.
This time, the problem occurred beneath Farmington Avenue rather than inside a building.
Workers from the Metropolitan District Commission are making repairs this week, said Matt Nozzolio, the district's spokesman.
West Hartford officials say they expect the stinky predicament will be over when the MDC flushes out the storm drains.
"Part of the problem is there are so many buildings in West Hartford Center," Van Winkle said. "When a plumber rehabs a building it is easy to mistake the cast iron storm water drains for the cast iron sewage drains."
In the future, the town's building department will pay closer attention to renovations to make sure similar mistakes are avoided.
The town, with help from the MDC, also plans to check sewer connections all the way down LaSalle Road by using a tiny camera to inspect the lines and flushing dye through the system.
Health Director Steven Huleatt said the sewer problem was not a major health hazard because the storm water culverts were buried about 10 feet below street level and could not be reached by people or animals.
Raw sewage in Trout Brook is a greater problem, but it will disappear once repairs are made and the culverts are flushed out, Huleatt said.
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