05/10/2026
Putting an Industrial Complex over our State recognized Aquifer protection and draining it to a class A watershed violates the clear goal of the New Milford Plan of Conservation and Development.
Protecting New Milford’s groundwater and surface water is not simply an environmental issue—it is a public health, safety, and economic necessity. Water is the foundation of our community. It supplies our homes, supports local businesses, sustains wildlife habitats, replenishes streams and wetlands, and provides safe drinking water for thousands of residents.
The Aquarion Water Company system in New Milford alone serves approximately 13000 and delivers an average of 1.2 million gallons of water per day. Yet most New Milford residents rely on private wells, making the protection of groundwater aquifers critically important. Unlike municipal systems, private wells are often the direct responsibility of homeowners, leaving families vulnerable to contamination that can be difficult and extremely costly to remediate.
Recognizing the importance of these resources, New Milford adopted Aquifer Protection Regulations and mapped Aquifer Protection Areas to safeguard the groundwater supplying public drinking water wells. These “wellhead protection areas” identify the land areas where contaminants can directly impact the Town’s drinking water supply. This is especially important because many of these recharge areas contain intensive commercial development, including gas stations, automotive repair facilities, and other land uses that pose a significant contamination risk if not carefully regulated. The adoption of these regulations prohibits new applications of these types of activities for very obvious reasons. The townspeople have already voted to adopt such regulations as they seen the importance of this issue.
Groundwater and surface water systems are deeply interconnected. Pollution entering the ground can migrate into wells, streams, wetlands, and ultimately the Housatonic River watershed. Once contaminated, aquifers can take decades to recover—if recovery is even possible. Prevention is far more effective and far less expensive than cleanup.
Floodplains and wetlands also play an essential role in protecting water quality and public safety. These natural systems store and slowly release floodwaters, recharge groundwater supplies, filter pollutants, reduce erosion, and provide critical wildlife habitat. As severe storm events become more frequent, preserving floodplains is increasingly important to reducing flood damage to homes, roads, and businesses.
Development that removes natural vegetation, increases impervious surfaces, or disturbs environmentally sensitive areas can significantly reduce groundwater recharge while increasing stormwater runoff, flooding, erosion, and pollution. These impacts are cumulative and long-lasting. Poor land-use decisions made today may permanently compromise the quality and availability of drinking water for future generations.
Protecting our groundwater and surface water resources requires responsible planning, strong environmental oversight, enforcement of aquifer protection regulations, and a commitment to preserving wetlands, floodplains, and natural recharge areas. Clean water is not unlimited, and once these resources are degraded, restoration can be extraordinarily difficult and expensive.
The protection of New Milford’s water resources must remain a top priority—not only for environmental preservation, but for public health, economic stability, climate resilience, and the long-term sustainability of our community.
Map provided by our friends at the Housatonic Valley Association.
