TIMELINE: G - Section 401 Water Quality Certification and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Coordination 

 
Status: Additional Documentation Will Be Added

The Water Quality Certification materials and related plans appear to rely on a particular understanding of how water moves across Lot 2 and toward a bordering vegetated wetland tributary associated with Cooley Brook.

Project Locus is comparing those assumptions with site elevations, historical photographs, recorded wetland documents, field observations, and the drainage features shown on the Levesque Associates plans.

Some of the later plans depict proposed drainage features, including pipe and driveway-related improvements, that were not constructed. Those proposed features should be distinguished from the actual historical drainage conditions that existed on the ground.

Based on Carl Hale’s field observations and his understanding of the site grades, water in the questioned area appears to move downslope away from the proposed home-site area rather than toward the drainage path associated with Cooley Brook.

Hale also recalls that water affecting this portion of Lot 2 was associated with flow from adjacent Lot 3 and surrounding higher ground, including areas he believed were influenced by groundwater or aquifer-related conditions.

Project Locus is therefore seeking the underlying hydrologic data, field notes, elevation information, drainage calculations, and agency review records used to determine the direction and source of water movement relied upon during the Water Quality Certification process.

This section raises a basic technical question:

Did the Water Quality Certification review rely on an accurate understanding of the actual source, direction, and movement of water affecting Lot 2?

That question should be evaluated using measured elevations, field data, historical site conditions, recorded wetland plans, and current observations rather than any single map or proposed drainage design.

The Water Quality Certification documents have already been provided to the appropriate reviewing agencies as part of the Project Locus evidence package.

This website section is intended to identify the drainage question for public and agency review. Additional Water Quality Certification pages, supporting maps, photographs, and related records may be added as the documentary review continues.

Carl Hale’s observations about drainage and site grades are informed by practical experience developed over many years, including service with the U.S. Army Combat Engineers, road and bridge construction, equipment work, landscaping, septic-system installation, and approximately 15 years working in chemical-waste treatment operations.

That experience does not replace a formal wetland or hydrologic determination, but it is relevant to Hale’s longstanding observations concerning slope, water movement, drainage patterns, and changes in site elevation.