BRISTOL — A three-town flooding study that’s nearing completion urges about $5 million worth of spending to help combat high waters along the Pequabuck River and its tributaries.

During a session Friday with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, officials said that among the report’s likely recommendations are to restore the water level gauge just west of Forestville center that’s needed to create an early warning system for possible floods.

Ray Rogozinski, an assistant city engineer, said the gauge is still in the river but hasn’t been monitored by the federal government for several years in a money-saving move.

Murphy asked if he knew how much it would cost to restore use of the gauge that Rogozinski called “a key component.”

When the engineer pegged the expense at $15,000 annually, Murphy smiled.

Used to Washington-sized budget requests where millions seem like chump change, Murphy said, “That should be doable.”

Rogozinski said the report — done on behalf of the communities of Bristol, Plainville and Plymouth to study flooding and its effects on economic development in the three communities — outlines a number of projects, including the replacement of a couple of bridges.

It also looks at working with individual property owners where flooding is a problem to try to help them make their buildings fend off the water better. Both Nuchies Restaurant and Theis Precision Steel USA are among the places that might get assistance.

“They can’t move fast enough” to take action, said Peter Gersky, president of Theis. He said flooding is a major issue for his 100-employee firm.

Dave Pasqualicchio, a co-owner of Nuchies, said that when the river rises, the lower level of his restaurant becomes “a mess” and badly impacts his business.

Mayor Ken Cockayne said that once the study is finished he will be looking for money to implement it.
“Maybe you could get us a few dollars,” the mayor told Murphy.

Murphy said there is federal money available for flood control projects, but some of them may be easier to pay for on the state level where there’s more flexibility about the use of the money.

During heavy rains both the Pequabuck and the Coppermine Brook are prone to overflow theirbanks, filling basements, closing roads and causing costly problems for those living alongside the streams.

The last major floods, in August and September of 2011, caused millions of dollars in damage throughout the city.

During the past decade there have been at least half a dozen serious floods that have swamped homes and businesses in many areas of town. Forestville has been especially hard hit time after time.

Robert Lee, the town manager of Plainville, said his town is trying to complete a buyout of homeowners in a hard-hit area along the river. He said he hopes to hear about funding to finish purchasing about a dozen homes this summer

He said the flood-prone houses would be razed and the area might be used for community gardens, much as Farmington has done near the Farmington River.