WILTON — Selectmen approved adoption of the sewer department’s summer usage adjustment policy Tuesday.

The policy was proposed in response to sewer customers who were concerned about paying sewer discharge fees for water that never goes through the sewer system, Clayton Putnam, water/wastewater superintendent told the board. This includes water for gardens and washing vehicles.

The policy, effective with this October’s billing, adjusts the minimum discharge amount to be billed from 1,000 cubic feet to 1,500 cubic feet for one billing cycle that covers summer months, he said.

This annual adjustment allows customers who discharge more than the normal minimum of 1,000 cubic feet per quarter a total of 3,740 gallons of water for which they will not be billed as sewer discharge, he proposed.

From the total 896 sewer customers, Putnam said that approximately 504 discharge less than 1,000 cubic feet per quarter, leaving a potential for 392 customers to receive the adjustment.

The charge for 500 cubic feet of discharge above the 1,000 cubic foot minimum is $10.12. That amount, multiplied by potentially 392 customers, represents a loss of $3,967.04 in revenue for the department each year, he said.

Putnam feels the department will be able to handle the estimated loss in revenue.

Research of how other towns handle this issue showed that some require the customer to purchase and maintain equipment, read water meters or the billing clerk to manually calculate and adjust the bill, he said.

He felt these methods were not right for the Wilton department and would hinder some efficiencies that the department has achieved.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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