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NB FLUSH Program

 

Project Synopsis

The New Britain Fresh Line Upgrades for Sanitary Health (NB FLUSH) program is a massive investment in repairing and replacing the City’s storm water and sewer line system. The program is desperately needed, because the aforementioned infrastructure is between 75-100 years old and is in need of urgent attention.

The goal of the New Britain FLUSH program aims to reduce municipal and taxpayer costs associated with stormwater infiltration into sewer lines, protect public health by reducing sewage backups, protect the environment by eliminating wastewater run-off, and promote community growth by increasing sewer capacity for expanded housing and economic development.

This project, at its completion, is expected to cost over $90 million and will likely take several years to fund and complete. The project is broken down into 5 phases.

  • Phase 1: Complete, Funded by the City of New Britain.
  • Phase 2: Complete, Funded by the City of New Britain.
  • Phase 3: In Progress, Funded by ARPA and CDF Award.
  • Phase 4: Designed, Identifying Funding Source(s).
  • Phase 5: Designed, Identifying Funding Source(s).
  • Additional Phases to be designed.


VIEW NB FLUSH PROGRAM MAPS HERE:


Project Overview

A common challenge that many municipalities all over the state are facing is finding a way to fund costly improvements to aging infrastructure systems that remain critical to the operations and quality of life of that municipality. The City of New Britain is certainly no stranger to this type of dilemma.

To help address this problem head-on, Mayor Stewart created The NB FLUSH program, which stands for Fresh Line Upgrades for Sanitary Health, in partnership with the City’s Water Director Ray Esponda and the City’s Public Works Director, Mark Moriarty. In total, The NB FLUSH program will include $90 million in upgrades to old or cracked storm water and sewer pipes over the next 20 years.

About 40% of the City of New Britain’s sewer and storm water pipes are at least 75 years old, with some of them being over 100 years old. This problem has led to an increased financial burden for the City and its taxpayers because the cracks and small holes in sewer lines allow additional clear water into the system, increasing pressure on the system and driving up the City’s wastewater treatment bills. The tree roots and clogs in the sewer lines have also led to unsanitary, inconvenient, and sometimes costly backups in the plumbing within residents’ homes.

The NB FLUSH program, which will be completed in 8-10 phases, aims to reduce the municipal and taxpayer costs associated with separating the storm water that gets in to into sewer lines, protect public health by reducing sewage backups, protect the environment by eliminating wastewater runoff, and promote community growth by increasing sewer capacity for expanded development.

The $3.2 million first phase of the NB FLUSH program was completed in 2020, with the work of this phase being concentrated mostly in the areas surrounding Batterson Park and Belden Street. A review of the data collected after the repairs shows a 41% reduction of flow in the area, proving that these repair efforts make a difference.

The second phase, which was a $2.1 million investment, involved work located in the south western area of town around Stanwood Drive and was completed in 2023. All the sewer mains were lined and the private Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) connections were completed.

Infiltration refers to when storm water seeps into sewage through damaged sewer pipes, and inflow is when storm water flows into sewer pipes in other ways such as through gutter downspouts, storm drains, or maintenance hole covers.

The third phase is currently under design and is a nearly $14 million investment in the Eastside neighborhood, which will be the largest section of this project to date. It will cover four areas that have been identified as major contributors to the City of New Britain’s inflow and infiltration.

Funding for the NB FLUSH program has come from multiple sources so far. The City’s Sewer division is transferring $1 million dollars a year to a fund specifically set up for the repairs to the storm water and sewer system.

In 2016 the city signed a consent order to invest $20 million in repairs over the next 10 years, but in order to address all the major problem areas identified through a sewer flow study the cost to repair all of these areas identified is in the range of $90 million. The funding for phase 1 & 2 came from the reserve account. Phase 3 is being funded by $13.1 million in ARPA funds as well as a nearly $1 million grant from the federal government.  

Future phases of the NB FLUSH program are currently being planned. The City of New Britain will continue seeking grants and federal aid to help with the expense ahead.