West Cornwall sewer project testing, surveying resumes

Members of the Wastewater Management Project in West Cornwall Village Construction Committee identified the lot between the post office and the design studio as a feasible location for the treatment plant more than two years ago.

Riley Klein

West Cornwall sewer project testing, surveying resumes

CORNWALL — Ground testing and surveying around the site of the proposed wastewater treatment center in West Cornwall resumed in November.

WMC Engineers, a consulting firm working with the town on the project, began boring the areas where sewer lines could be located this month. The plans were discussed at a meeting of the Wastewater Management Project in West Cornwall Village Construction Committee Nov. 12.

The proposed site of the treatment plant is in the rear of the plot between the post office and the design studio on Route 128 in West Cornwall.

WMC bored the property in 2023 and found the land feasible for the project. The private landowner has verbally agreed to allow the town to build the treatment plant on the property, likely through an easement and long-term lease.

WMC Engineer Steve McDonnell said the 2024 surveyors are looking for bedrock beneath roads in the service area and will only be drilling about six feet deep.

“The sewers are very shallow,” said McDonnell, noting the proposed low-pressure system allows for “small diameter” piping.

The WMC crew is using a truck-mounted drilling rig “on the state route (128) and also a couple of the side roads in the service area,” said McDonnell.

WMC’s survey is expected to be completed by December and will gauge the total amount of ground material that needs to be removed for the project. Once determined, design of the treatment plant and piping network can begin.

McDonnell estimated the designs will be finalized by spring 2025. The permitting process that follows will take an additional six to nine months before construction can begin. “I’m excited to get this thing moving ahead,” said McDonnell.

Latest News

East Canaan's CowPots to face the 'Sharks'

Amanda Freund of East Canaan will appear on the television show "Shark Tank" on April 4 to pitch CowPots.

Photo by Ruth Epstein

CANAAN — Fans of the television show “Shark Tank,” stay tuned. On Friday, April 4, Amanda Freund of East Canaan will be facing the panel, imploring members to invest in her unique product: cow poop.

Freund and her father Matthew Freund produce and market CowPots, which are made from the abundance of manure found on their dairy farm. Matthew Freund, realizing cows were producing more manure — 100 pounds per cow per day — than was needed for fertilizing fields for crops, came up with the concept of the pots. Years of trial-and-error experimentation finally resulted in success. In 2006 he began selling the biodegradable pots using 100% composted manure to local stores. Now the pots can be found in outlets across the country, as well as internationally.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss lacrosse ices Kingswood Oxford 19-0

LAKEVILLE — The Hotchkiss School opened the girls varsity lacrosse season with a big win in the snow against Kingswood Oxford School.

The Bearcats won 19-0 in a decisive performance March 26. Twelve different players scored for Hotchkiss, led by Coco Sheronas with four goals.

Keep ReadingShow less
HVRHS releases second quarter honor roll

FALLS VILLAGE — Principal Ian Strever announces the second quarter marking period Honor Roll at Housatonic Valley Regional High School for the 2024-2025 school year.

Highest Honor Roll

Grade 9: Parker Beach (Cornwall), Mia Belter (Salisbury), Lucas Bryant (Cornwall), Addison Green (Kent), Eliana Lang (Salisbury), Alison McCarron (Kent), Katherine Money (Kent), Mira Norbet (Sharon), Abigail Perotti (North Canaan), Karmela Quinion (North Canaan), Owen Schnepf (Wassaic), Federico Vargas Tobon (Salisbury), Emery Wisell (Kent).

Keep ReadingShow less
Thomas Ditto

ANCRAMDALE — Thomas Ditto of Ancramdale, born Thomas David DeWitt Aug. 11, 1944 in New York City changing his surname to Ditto at marriage, passed peacefully on Pi Day, March 14, 2025. He was a husband, father, artist, scientist, Shakespeare scholar, visionary, inventor, actor, mime, filmmaker, clown, teacher, lecturer, colleague, and friend. Recipient of numerous grants, awards and honors in both the arts and sciences, a Guggenheim and NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow, he was a creative genius beyond his time. In addition to authoring scores of papers, he held several patents and invented the first motion capture system and the Ditto-scope, a radically new kind of telescope. He was a pioneer in computer generated video, film, and performance.

When not hard at work, he was always there to help when needed and he knew how to bring smiles to faces. He loved his family and pets and was supportive of his wife’s cat rescue work.

Keep ReadingShow less