|
|
|
|
Home › Departments and Agencies › Departments H - P › Public Utilities › Water and Sewer Divisions › Historical Chronology of Wallingford's Water Supply System |
|
|
Historical Chronology of Wallingford's Water Supply System
1881 - Special Acts of 1881 of the Connecticut General Assembly revised charter of the Borough of Wallingford, empowering Borough to construct and operate water works under a Board of Water Commissioners, and granted the Borough water rights and water service franchise rights within the Town of Wallingford. Board of Water Commissioners appointed and studies of alternative water supply sources initiated.
1882 - Water rights to Pistapaug (Paug) Pond purchased from adjoining landowners. First water works project consisted of 820 feet of 18-inch intake pipe, a gate house, 16,000 feet of transmission mains, and 7½ miles of distribution mains installed at a total cost of $67,500.00.
1884 - First dam with stone masonry spillway constructed in natural outlet channel at Paug Pond which raised the original level of the pond by 2½ feet.
1893 - 1.5 mgd stream pump station constructed on Muddy River at Northford Road. River water pumped directly into system in order to supplement the supply from Paug Pond.
1908 -Lane's Pond, which captures approximately one-half square mile of additional watershed area on Totoket Mountain, was purchased with the original dam that was approximately nine feet tall. Water was diverted to Paug Pond via a new cast iron transmission main. (Approximately 0.68 mgd diverted from this source.)
1926 - Filter plant equipped with two filters constructed at Muddy River with 1.0 mgd capacity.
1943 - Mackenzie Reservoir (a.k.a. Pine River Reservoir) completed with a gross storage capacity of 160.3 million gallons (mg). Existing roadways within the reservoir basin relocated with a grant from the Federal Works Agency.
1950-1960 - Population of the Town nearly doubled from 16,976 to 29,920 due to post war "baby boom" and rapid development of large housing tracts outside of the Borough along with the extension of the distribution system into these areas resulting in a doubling of the estimated population served by the water supply and a dramatic 65% increase in the average demand, from 1.86 mgd to 3.06 mgd.
1956 - Masonic ground storage tank and Parker Farms pump station constructed which made service available to west side of Town.
1957 to 1958 - Addition to Mackenzie filter plant was constructed to increase capacity to 4.2 mgd.
1961 to 1967 - Prolonged period of drought affected Connecticut and the Northeast U.S. resulting in severe depletion of reservoir storage levels and mandatory water use restrictions. In Wallingford, rainfall over the period from 1962 to 1966 was 24% below average and the total for 1965 (29.47") was the lowest recorded annual rainfall (39% below average) over the period of record for the utility (1856 to 2000). Reservoir effective storage levels dropped to lows of 45% in 1965, 43% in 1966, and 47% in 1967. A temporary intake pipeline and an emergency standby pump station were set-up in 1966 on a floating platform in Paug Pond in 1966 to provide access to the dead storage below the elevation of the fixed intakes; however, the recovery of reservoir levels due to the activation of Well #2, Ulbrich Reservoir, and increased rainfall in 1967 alleviated the need to resort to its use.
1962 - Production Well No. 1 and water softening treatment facility installed on North Turnpike Road at Ridgeland Road.
1966 - Ulbrich (a.k.a. Spring Brook) Reservoir constructed with a gross storage capacity of 964.6 mg. Raw water pump stations and transmission mains for pumping from Mackenzie to Ulbrich and from Ulbrich to Paug also constructed. These improvements increased the safe yield of the surface supply reservoir system from approximately 3.5 mgd to approximately 5.0 mgd.
Production Well No. 2 placed into operation utilizing original eight-inch diameter test well casing and screen.
1974 - Production Well No. 3 put into service.
1982 - In response to the supply deficit experienced in 1981, Mackenzie and Ulbrich raw water pump stations were upgraded to 5.18 mgd and 5.47 mgd, respectively, thereby increasing the safe yield of the surface supply reservoir system from 5.0 mgd to approximately 5.8 mgd. In addition, the pumping capacity of Well No. 2 was increased from 400 gpm to 550 gpm.
1989 - Treatment facility at Oak Street wellfield constructed to treat Well No. 2 for volatile organic compounds and Well No. 3 for iron and manganese removal.
1993 - Major water supply upgrade project completed including the following: New treatment plant at Paug Pond constructed with a capacity of 12 mgd (diversion permit allows up to 18.33 mgd withdrawal). New raw water pump stations constructed at Mackenzie and Ulbrich Reservoirs with capacities of 12.29 mgd each. New 24-inch raw water transmission main constructed from Mackenzie to Ulbrich and from Ulbrich to Paug Pond. New distribution tanks (3.0 mg total capacity) constructed at the Paug Pond WTP and a new 24-inch finished water main installed from the storage tanks to the head of the distribution system at Tyler Mill Road.
 |  |  Share
|
|
