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Easton Man Blasts Town Pipe That Floods His Yard

EASTON, Conn. – Ever since Rob George moved into his Silver Hill Road home 13 years ago, he has had a gripe with the town of Easton. A large concrete drainage pipe, owned by the town, floods his backyard and fills his property with sediment and trash.

“I am sick of it, and I don’t know what to do,” George said Thursday.

A ditch runs along the side of Silver Hill Road and catches runoff from the road and from Pee Wee Horse Farm, directly across the street from George’s home. The pipe then carries that water underground, underneath the street and empties into his backyard.

At times, his backyard is filled with trash, large rocks and sediment and sometimes stinks of manure, George said. It all is from the water runoff coming out of the town-owned pipe. The water not only floods his backyard but also carries into a pond on his property, leaving an oily sheen on the water.

“I don’t know what some of that stuff is that comes out of that pipe, but it can’t be good for my yard and it can’t be good for the wildlife that lives in or near my pond,” George said. In heavy rains, he said, the water flows right into his pond, leaving his backyard completely submerged.

Although he has been dealing with the flooding for more than a decade, George said it has worsened over the past two years. “It just gets so bad. Everything is flooded out. And in really heavy rain, you can’t even see my backyard. It’s all under water — that is how bad it gets,” he said.

George told Town Clerk Derek Buckley about the drainage issue a few days ago while Buckley was going door-to-door for his re-election bid. Buckley then wrote a letter to First Selectman Thomas Herrmann and Public Works Director Ed Nagy in hopes of rectifying the situation and alerting them that the runoff “is more than water.”

Herrmann directed questions to Nagy, saying he was unfamiliar with the drainage pipe. Nagy said Thursday that the issue was out of the town's hands because the water running onto George’s land was “natural.”

“Why is it 100 percent of the town’s problem?” Nagy asked. “Water runs down hill, what can the town do? What do you expect the town to do? The water runs down hill, that is all I can say.”

George said he has yet to hear from town officials and said would just like the issue resolved. “I know that they say this is the natural progression of the water, I get that. But what about the trash and the sediment?”

“I don’t care if they keep the pipe here, I mean, even if the town brought some truckloads of dirt to help fill it out and fix the erosion, I would be happy with that. But for right now, I feel pretty helpless,” he said.

What are your thoughts on the pipe issue on Silver Hill Road? Let reporter Erin Lynch know at elynch@thedailyeaston.com.

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