Connecticut Water opens $6.3M Heritage Village facility in Southbury to improve water clarity and taste for 5,500 customers.SOUTHBURY, CT — Connecticut Water has brought a new $6.3 million drinking water treatment facility online in its Heritage Village system, improving water quality for thousands of customers in Southbury, Middlebury, and Oxford.The new facility, now fully operational, is designed to remove naturally occurring manganese and iron that have long caused discolored water in the system.“When C...
Connecticut Water opens $6.3M Heritage Village facility in Southbury to improve water clarity and taste for 5,500 customers.
SOUTHBURY, CT — Connecticut Water has brought a new $6.3 million drinking water treatment facility online in its Heritage Village system, improving water quality for thousands of customers in Southbury, Middlebury, and Oxford.
The new facility, now fully operational, is designed to remove naturally occurring manganese and iron that have long caused discolored water in the system.
“When Connecticut Water acquired the system in 2017, discolored water had been a long-standing issue because there was no treatment of the minerals present in the source water,” the company said in a statement. The project represents the final phase of a multi-year plan that included well optimization, replacement of mineral-coated mains, and an expanded flushing program.
“This project has been a long time coming. We’re thrilled to bring this new facility online and start serving customers,” said Connecticut Water President Craig Patla. “A project like this reaffirms our commitment to building for the future as stewards of critical infrastructure that delivers high-quality water to our customers each and every day.”
The Heritage Village water system draws from five groundwater wells capable of producing 2 million gallons of water per day for about 5,500 customers — roughly half within Southbury’s Heritage Village community.
While the existing wells remain in use, the new facility adds advanced filtration to better remove minerals from the groundwater. Though the water had met all drinking water standards, the system is expected to significantly improve clarity and taste. Customers should notice improvements quickly, with continued progress as remaining mineral buildup in pipes and tanks dissolves over time.
Design work for the project began in early 2022, with final engineering completed in late 2023. Construction started in early 2024. Engineers modeled the building’s exterior to fit the architectural style of Heritage Village.
The facility also features technology that allows for remote monitoring and control, with more than 120 water quality alarms and backup power generation to keep operations running during outages. In addition, the system recycles water used during filter cleaning as part of the company’s sustainability initiatives.
Connecticut Water, regulated by the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, provides water service to more than 107,000 customers in 60 towns across Connecticut, including wastewater service for 3,000 customers in Southbury.