The Hydraulic Canal....Again

Today's Journal....

Canal project stagnant as the smelly, mosquito-ridden water

MIDDLETOWN — Repairs to the city’s defunct hydraulic canal will likely remain as stagnant as the water in it after City Council members quashed a proposal to fix the problem

How many councils are going to "visit" this topic and how many times are they going to "table it" or just "wish" it would go away?

"Wilbraham Road Resident Gary Barge, who has been fighting to fix the canal since the 1990s, said he thinks the repair would have helped. Residents have had to deal with odors and excessive mosquitoes as a result of the stagnant water. Many have already spent money cleaning the canal and filling in the sides to protect their backyards from being eroded"

"Councilwoman Anita Scott Jones said she would “bet her paycheck” most people would not want the canal in their backyard".

And because it is not in any councilperson's backyard, it will be ignored. If it were in back of Mulligan or Kohler's house in S. Main St., it would have already been taken care of.

This next statement from Tom "Quiet Man" Allen is astonishing!!!!

"Councilman Tom Allen said he was not in favor of rerouting Aeronca’s water. However, he encouraged Barge to pursue a solution with his neighbors, especially if they are already spending their own money to protect their backyards.

“If you have 2,000 signatures and you get $2,000 a piece from (those people), you fix your problem,” he said"

WHAT????? Encourage Barge to pursue a solution with his neighbors.....???What in the hell do you think they have been doing for the last ten years Allen, playin' "hippity hop at the barber shop"? What an ignorant statement to make bud.

Then he follows with...

“If you have 2,000 signatures and you get $2,000 a piece from (those people), you fix your problem,” he said"

Yeah Allen, I would suspect most of those folks along the canal have 2 grand laying around on the kitchen table waiting to fix the city's problem.

Like the city asking the residents to pave their own street with the city shirking their responsibility, now Allen wants the residents along the canal to pay for the solution to another city problem that is being ignored. Allen's a fool for even suggesting this IMO. Hey Allen, here's a clue....it isn't THEIR problem. The dam city owns the canal. It's YOUR (the city's) problem. YOU own it. YOU (the city) are in violation of the health codes with the stagnant, mosquito infested water.

What year did the canal stop operating and we still have it all these decades later ?!!

 

Stupid is as stupid does.

Regarding the Aeronca (Magellan) discharge:

It's never been determined that the city own's the canal and who is utimately responsible for it. 

viper771 wrote: I had no idea a part of the old canal was still around. Sorry if I sound ignorant but why is the water not flowing? Is the area in question a part of the canal that wasn't filled in? I just knew that they filled in the canal and that is where Verity is now..but I didn't know other parts were still around. I still haven't seen all of Middletown yet and I have lived here for a couple yrs now. I am still trying to get around to explore.

viper, the portion of the hydraulic canal that is in question and presents a nuisance runs past Wilbraham Rd. and past the entryway to Smith Park on down toward the former site of Sorg Paper.

Prior to the dam breaking in 1993, water flow was maintained in the canal and reduced stagnation creating mosquito breeding and health issues. Now that the dam has broken (and the state won't fix it), there is no water flow and it has become a cesspool. Studies on fixatives included installing pumps to create water flow, installing aerators to lessen stagnation.....all, too expensive for the city to implement. So, it sits there, occasionally mentioned by past and current council members and alot of money spent for "studies" with no solution in sight. Residents along Wilbraham, including Gary Barge, have complained, taken water samples, reported it to the EPA, etc. to no avail. It sits as an eyesore, a health hazard and as a monument to another city responsibility that has been ignored for many years.....like the roads, sewers, the downtown, the housing, busineses leaving town and many other issues that belong in the "turn their back, look the other way" file.

Thanks for the info vet! I think I read somewhere that the water once was used for the paper mill and still flowed though the mill until the dam broke. Can there be a way to fill it in? I don't know if that would really help though.  Something should have been done a long time ago, there is no doubt about that. I can see that there will more many more problems appearing in the near future that the city won't be able to ignore.

Hermes - you're asking where's the Federal EPA? They got defunded.

Thanks for the info Mike. I was thinking they were one in the same.

viper771 wrote: Thanks for the info Mike. I was thinking they were one in the same.

You are welcome.  Many people are under that same impression.

Frankly, I think some local people who actually know better try to foster that belief, perhaps because they harbor the hope that they will be commisssioned to "restore" a portion of the hydraulic canal to inaccurately represent it with canal boats, and possibly a set of locks, without regards to historic accuracy. I have no idea how they think this could possibly ever get past the keen eye for detail of our Historic Commission. 

[QUOTE=TonyB]Mr Presta,

The city could have filled in the canal with the debris from all the buildings they've torn down. The rubble from the old Middletown Hospital and all the schools they tore down would have provided a lot of fill-in. Why did Gary Barge stop fighting? We need him here in Ward 1. Do you think Mr. Allen even knows where this ward is located?