Nora Grace-Flood Photo
As a blizzard’s worth of snow melts into Lake Whitney, a 160-year-old dam is keeping Hamden and New Haven safe from flooding — and a host of politicians and Regional Water Authority employees are working to keep the historic dam safe from collapsing.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro visited Hamden Monday morning to highlight a potential source of funding to help cover the estimated $40 million cost of constructing a second dam for a longer-term fix.
DeLauro reported that the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority has been selected to compete for a $20 million loan through The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Program, a federal credit initiative administered by the Environmental Protection Agency that provides long-term, low-interest financial support to “regionally and nationally significant projects.”
“I’m so so proud that the EPA has invited RWA to accept the funds to rehabilitate the dam,” DeLauro said. She framed the potential loan as one piece of broader, “essential” federal investment in water infrastructure throughout Connecticut, including money allotted to boost business at New Haven’s ports and protect the city’s waterfront from sea level rise, flooding and storm surges.
“We are so excited to have these dollars flowing our way,” Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett added. “Rosa is doing such a phenomenal job of bringing dollars home to our district, and we are happy to take them, and happy to take more.”
Council Rep. Laurie Sweet, RWA Public Affairs Director April Capone, Council Rep. Justin Farmer, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, State Rep. Josh Elliott, Mayor Lauren Garrett, State Sen. Jorge Cabrera, and RWA Vice President of Engineering Sunny Lakshminarayanan on Monday.
Investing in the Lake Whitney dam “is so important,” DeLauro argued, because “if you had a breach that occurred, any flooding downstream would be a disaster.”
Of RWA’s four water treatment plants, Lake Whitney is the second largest. It generates 80 million gallons of water each day, which provides around 120,000 customers throughout Southern Connecticut with clean H20.
It is also considered a “high hazard” dam by the state.
Because the dam was built more than a century and a half ago, it is filled with rubble, boulders, and stone, which are not cemented together.
To comply with modern dam codes, take into account changing weather conditions, and preserve the historical integrity of the original structure, RWA intends to build a solid concrete dam not in place of the current dam, but upstream of it. The project will be conducted under the State of Connecticut’s historic preservation guidelines.
First, RWA has to secure $40 million in order to lead construction on that new dam. That project is crucial not only to delivering safe drinking water to customers but to supporting aquatic life throughout the Mill River and providing drought mitigation.
“While this invitation does not guarantee funding, it is expected that the EPA will only invite projects to apply if it anticipates that those projects can obtain WIFIA credit assistance,” Capone wrote in a press release regarding WIFIA’s Lake Whitney spotlight. Capone said she is hopeful that the additional $20 million required to follow through on construction will be provided through state grants.
In November, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that building a new dam in Lake Whitney is one of the highest priorities the state is looking to accomplish with federal infrastructure money.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro: Water infrastructure an example of investing in communities, not the top 1 percent.
With a total of $445 million coming to Connecticut over five years for water infrastructure investments, DeLauro said, $20 million to keep Lake Whitney clean and contained should be “viable through the infrastructure bill.”
RWA Vice President of Engineering Sunny Lakshminarayanan said that the design for the project has long been underway, and that construction should take roughly two to two and a half years. He said he hopes the new dam can be completed by 2026.
