741 Colonel Ledyard Highway  
Ledyard, Connecticut 06339  
TOWN OF LEDYARD  
Water Pollution Control Authority  
Meeting Minutes  
Chairman  
Ed Lynch  
Public Hearing - Water Rate Increase  
Tuesday, April 23, 2024  
6:00 PM  
Council Chambers - Hybrid  
I.  
CALL TO ORDER  
The Public Hearing Meeting was called to order by Chairman Lynch at 6:00 p.m.  
II.  
PROCEDURE OF THE PUBLIC HEARING  
III.  
CALL OF THE PUBLIC HEARING  
IV.  
1.  
PRESENTATION  
Proposed 5% Water Rate Increase.  
Chairman Lynch started the presentation by stating there is a proposed five percent increase to  
the water rate due to two factors. The first is Groton Utilities will impose a five percent increase  
to the raw water cost starting on October 1, 2024, the WPCA is unable to absorb these increases.  
The second factor is that the WPCA never budgeted for contingencies. The Department of  
Health mandated that all Water Utilities companies check for lead. There are presently eleven  
unknown services in Ledyard that need to be checked because of lack of documentation. There is  
no budget in place to pay for the lead testing services. Local towns such as Groton City and New  
London are receiving grant money to help pay for lead testing. Even though the services in  
question are believed to be using plastic piping there could still be a small lead insert that  
connects the meter to the house. If the lead piping is less than 20" it can be pulled and replaced  
with another material.  
V.  
PUBLIC COMMENTS  
Please limit to three minutes.  
Eric Treaster, 10 Huntington Way, expressed concerns about the unintended consequences of a  
rate increase. His first concern is customers who use no water because their house as vacant are  
charged the same monthly rate as a home with a family of four using 3,000 of water, Mr.  
Treaster said it doesn't seem quite right. He added that the rate structure seems to penalize large  
families at the expense of small families. Mr. Treaster said raising the rates of water has  
unintended consequences such as lowering values of homes or discouraging people from moving  
into Ledyard. He asked what the checks and balances are for Groton Utilities, can they charge  
whatever they want? Is there is a mechanism in place when GU raises its rates and Ledyard can't  
afford it? Ideally Mr. Treaster would like charges to be based only on numbers of gallons used.  
Chairman Lynch said that the Authority is planning on working on a new rate structure, possibly  
next year. Mr. Treaster had two questions, first how much capacity is in the new sewer line  
coming into Ledyard Center, will it support 100, 200 or 500 units? Secondly, could each unit be  
individually metered, he believed it would be a much fairer way to charge customers, he would  
like this idea to be considered.  
Kevin Blacker, 11 Church Street, Noank, renter of farmland Shewville Road. Mr. Blacker  
inquired about the dollar value of water that is dumped each year through flushing. Chairman  
Lynch said he doesn't have the number but could get it, it is several million gallons of water and  
it's metered. Flushing is required by the Department of Health. Mr. Blacker recommended  
finding out the dollar value of the water that is flushed and looking to eliminate waste by  
engineering the water system. He suggested that the WPCA investigate ways to recuperate the  
losses, such as selling flushed water as pool water or for farm usage, (especially during drought  
times). He also suggested that the WPCA look at what assets that aren't being used by the Town  
that could be sold to raise revenue.  
VI.  
ADJOURNMENT  
The Public Hearing Meeting was adjourned at 6:27 p.m.  
DISCLAIMER: Although we try to be timely and accurate these are not official records of the  
Town.