UConn to build long-awaited compost facility

Michelle Firestone

Issue date: 11/20/08

Section: News

 

After 16 years of discussion, plans to build a compost facility at UConn are underway.

Ten proposals for the facility have been submitted since 1992. The project wasn't considered seriously until 2005, when more than 400 students signed a petition to former President Philip E. Austin, according to the Office of Environmental Policy Web site. The petition resulted in the formation of a taskforce to further investigate the logistics of the project.

Plans for the project have been delayed due to difficulties obtaining funding and garnering administrative support. The project finally got going when UConn Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Barry Feldman threw his support behind it. Feldman was convinced the project was a good idea after reading a report the taskforce created.

"Barry Feldman deserves a lot of credit for deciding to fund it," said Richard Miller, director of the OEP.

A $600,000 budget for the project was approved by UConn's Board of Trustees in August 2007, according to the OEP website. Miller said this will cover design and construction costs, but will not cover equipment, material and upkeep costs.

"We are hoping that is sufficient for design and construction," he said. "If we are over our budget, we will use some of that money for equipment."

The committee on the project evaluated over a dozen sites; 11 in Mansfield and one in Coventry. Three of the sites were deemed acceptable: two near the Bergin Correctional Facility across the street from the Depot Campus and one at horsebarn hill. The committee in charge of the project, the Compost Facility Advisory Committee, recently proposed their top choice, a site behind the prison, to the advisory committee at UConn.

"The site isn't set in stone," Miller said. "We are waiting to see what kind of feedback we get."

The sites were evaluated based on 12 environmental and operational guidelines. One of the most important guidelines was both operational and environmental; the size of the residential buffer around the facility site. A residential buffer is the proximity that a facility is to residences. The residential buffer is essential to ensure that the residential drinking water is protected from contamination. This is a significant concern in Mansfield, where many of the residents drink well water.

"Based on the plans, there shouldn't be a problem with the discharge from this site," Wettemann said.

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a 300- foot buffer guideline.

However, "if there is less than a 300 foot buffer, the site could still get approved," according to Joseph Wettemann, a senior sanitary engineer at the Department of Environmental Protection.

The Compost Facility and Advisory Committee set their own guideline of 1,000 feet or more, exceeding the DEP's, Miller said. They have met that guideline with all of their top three sites.

Another environmental criteria used in the evaluation process pertains to the topography of the land. The Compost Facility Advisory Committee wanted to avoid having their facility on a site with a slope steeper than 5 percent. A steep slope would pose numerous problems.

"It could be a hazard during the winter if there is a slope greater than 5 percent," Miller said.

The facility would be expensive if constructed on a steep slope.

"It's best to avoid this kind of expense," Miller said.

The committee also wanted to avoid a site with species listed on the National Diversity Database, a list of threatened or endangered species documented by the DEP.

It has taken the committee a year to narrow down the list of possible sites to three.

"We had to find a site that would be acceptable to the community," Miller said.