Blacker, Katherine ​chrisbruce.1111@gmail.com;​chrisbruce1111@gmail.com​ ​water pollution control authority;​Duarte, Mauricio ;​LaFontaine, Doug ;​+1 other​ Good morning Christine, Forwarding this to assure you received the email. Also, confirming GU will be at 8 Smith Pond Way at 8 am this Thursday the 20th into Friday, 21st to repair the leak. Thank you, Kate Kate Blacker Project Management | Technical Aide Water & Wastewater ……………… A picture containing logo Description automatically generated Office: (860) 629-7012 Cell: (860) 625-0720 Office Hours: 7am – 3pm (M-F) From: Blacker, Katherine Sent: Monday, November 17, 2025 11:19 AM To: chrisbruce.1111@gmail.com Cc: Duarte, Mauricio ; LaFontaine, Doug ; Bartelli, Vince Subject: Leak Repair at 8 Smith Pond Way - Thur. 11-20-25 at 8 am Good morning Christine- To document phone conversation with you, Mo and myself this morning after GU crew arrived this morning but did not perform the leak repair as originally planned. This was due to miscommunication – specifically not confirming the proposed schedule that was planned on the phone 11/7, when we scheduled the snaking of the pipe for last Wednesday. At that time, GU offered to schedule the repair on Friday 11/14; you indicated Friday would not be convenient for you and your mom but that early the following week would be better. GU will reschedule the repair of the leaking water line in the driveway at your mom’s house this Thursday and Friday, November 20-21. The crew will begin work at 8 am, Thursday. This work will block access to/from the house due to the location of the water service under the driveway. As part of leak repair, the driveway will be compacted and restored. The sink hole on the side will also be filled We proposed installing the meter pit this Friday, as part of the planned work however, you indicated that you would like to delay this portion of work until further discussion/scheduling with Mo and myself. Please respond to this email if you have any questions and we will see you Thursday. Thank you, Kate Kate Blacker Project Management | Technical Aide Water & Wastewater Thank you for your email about 8 Smith Pond Way. This morning I spoke with the residents’ daughter, Christine, to request going back on- site to attempt snaking the line to locate the service. GU will do this work Wednesday, the 12th to determine if the service line is on the east side of the driveway, or if it routes under the driveway, more toward the sinkhole. Having the location of the line will streamline GU’s excavation/repair and meter pit installation which will take place the week of the 17th of November. The cost of the work will not be charged to the customer & will be covered by Ledyard WPCA (Chirstine reiterated this during the phone call). Separate but related, in follow up to our conversation earlier this week – GU has decided to pause on the requirement of meter pits, unless there is a leak. We have decided to formalize our policy and specification manual details related to the rules and regulations and then enact the new policy of requiring meter pits. Our goal is to institute this at the beginning of the new FY, in July 2026. Earlier this week I had advised the homeowner and his contractor at 27 Inchcliffe Dr, Gales Ferry, of the new policy. I advised them they would be required to install a meter pit. They ordered the meter pit which delayed project completion until next week. Since they have already ordered the pit and are proceeding this way, may I ask your guidance on whether, for this specific case, I can proceed with requiring the meter pit? In terms of all other inspected service work in Ledyard, we are hoping to get your and/or the commission’s decision on how you would like GU to proceed with meter pits on new (tap) installations or service connections to existing stubs to the property line in the Ledyard system. We are working on determining the meter pit vs. basement location totals. Thank you Ed- Kate Kate Blacker Project Management | Technical Aide Water & Wastewater ……………… A picture containing logo Description automatically generated Office: (860) 629-7012 Cell: (860) 625-0720 Office Hours: 7am – 3pm (M-F) From: water pollution control authority Sent: Thursday, November 6, 2025 7:23 PM To: Fred Allyn, III ; Steve Masalin ; ftjones@prodigy.net; swadecki@comcast.net; Capon, J Anthony ; Stan Juber ; Monir Tewfik ; James A. Ball ; jerryrmorris@gmail.com Cc: Blacker, Katherine ; Duarte, Mauricio ; Ian Stammel Subject: Re: Water service Leak at 8 Smith Pond Way, Gales Ferry Fred/Steve/Ian: We discovered a significant leak (7500 GPD) at the curb stop at 8 Smith Pond Way BEFORE the water meter ( their meter is located in the basement). We discussed several options at our last monthly meeting on how to repair this leak that involved the owner repairing the line on her property and the WPCA replacing the location of the meter with a meter box on the street. Of course there is the additional mystery of where all the water is going from the leak. After talking to the daughter yesterday (it is her mother living there) and forensic work done by GU, several potential reasons for the leak have presented itself. Many years ago, the town put a 36 inch drain on the front of the property in order to drain water off a bridge as it would ice over in the winter presenting a driving hazard. It took several attempts by the town to get the installed drain pipe configuration to drain effectively. Unfortunately that drain pipe activity is also near where the water service line happens to be. Maybe a coincidence, but there was also observed sink holes in the area. The owner had no clue there was this sizable leak in their service line and being placed under the 36 inch drain solves the mystery of where all the leaked water is going. Because the leak is before the meter, the owner has no real incentive to repair the leak unless it disrupts service. However, the financial impact to the rate payers to allow this leak to continue is significant and this should be considered a small scale emergency that should be repaired immediately. The home owner has agreed to allow the WPCA to do the repairs. Given the above circumstances, I have recommended to GU to repair the leak and eventually install the standard meter box at the curb stop. Due to the WPCA's vulnerability to such configurations, I have asked GU to provide a count of all those customers that still have meters located within a resident basement instead of the curb stop out on the street. It is not our intent to change every basement meter location to the curb stop - but the WPCA will need to create an operation policy in order to handle such situations in the future. Sorry for the long dialog. thanks for your attention in this matter. Ed Lynch, WPCA Mobile 646-732-9224 From: Blacker, Katherine Sent: Monday, November 3, 2025 7:09 AM To: water pollution control authority Subject: RE: Water service Leak at 8 Smith Pond Way, Gales Ferry Thank you Ed – We will be in touch. Kate Blacker Project Management | Technical Aide Water & Wastewater ……………… A picture containing logo Description automatically generated Office: (860) 629-7012 Cell: (860) 625-0720 Office Hours: 7am – 3pm (M-F) From: water pollution control authority Sent: Friday, October 31, 2025 8:18 PM To: Blacker, Katherine Cc: Pratt, Joseph ; Duarte, Mauricio ; Weber, Mike ; LaFontaine, Doug ; Daniels, Tina Subject: Re: Water service Leak at 8 Smith Pond Way, Gales Ferry Katherine - looks great to me. Keep me up to date on how they react to the letter. Because the service line is on their property, and a leak has been found we have no choice but to proceed with a standard repair. Thanks for doing this. Ed Ed Lynch, WPCA Mobile 646-732-9224 From: Blacker, Katherine Sent: Friday, October 31, 2025 10:27 AM To: water pollution control authority Cc: Pratt, Joseph ; Duarte, Mauricio ; Weber, Mike ; LaFontaine, Doug ; Daniels, Tina Subject: RE: Water service Leak at 8 Smith Pond Way, Gales Ferry Thank you for this information, Ed. We’ve attached the following draft letter for your review and edits before we send back to the customer. The letter was written to incorporate the information you shared in your email. We had initially planned to leak detect on the customer side on 10/23 however the customer’s daughter contacted us to delay. On Tuesday she indicated next week would be convenient for them. Mo plans to attempt locating the service line Thursday and if that is successful, then the meter shop will conduct leak detection . If we cannot locate the line, we won’t be able to leak detect, and a repair will need to be made by a contractor without that information. GU plans to install the meter pit on Friday, November7th – weather depending. I plan to return the daughters call today once I have your input and approval. Please let me know what edits you’d like made to the draft. We are looking into your request for a count of houses with meter pits in Ledyard versus in-home meters. Thank you. Kate Kate Blacker Project Management | Technical Aide Water & Wastewater