Report of something falling from plane sends police to Reservior
Groton-WTNH, June 20, 2002 Updated 7:02 PM ) _ A report of something falling from a plane into a reservoir sent state police and the FBI into action Thursday afternoon.State Trooper Roger Beaupre tells News Channel 8 a person called the state police barracks in Montville and reported seeing something either falling or being thrown from a plane into the Groton Reservoir around 2:45 p.m.
A team from the FBI, as well as state and local police and the Department of Environmental Protection is on the scene.
News Channel 8 staff member Bryan Lee says the police helicopter Trooper 1 is making repeated passes over the water, but does not appear to be searching any one particular area. Lee says it appears a police dive team is in the water.
Authorities have set up a command post near Exit 88 off of I-95.
There have been similar scares involving the water supply around the country in the wake of the attacks of September 11th.
Last month in Easton, police were called out to a reservoir when someone reported three men on top of a water supply tank. It turned out the men, who were from Bangladesh, were taking pictures.
Groton-WTNH, June 21, 2002 5:02 PM) _ State investigators are still trying to figure out what if anything fell from a plane and into a Groton reservoir. A witness reported seeing something fall from a plane above Smith Lake Thursday afternoon.Watch the story from News Channel 8's Leon Collins State police and officials at Groton Utilities say they have not been able to find whatever it was that might have fallen or was thrown from a low flying plane over Smith Lake.
Officials continue to isolate Smith Lake from the rest of the area water supply and tests of all water in that area show the water is safe.
Connecticut got a good look at homeland security in action yesterday afternoon as state police and local authorities in Groton had a unified response to what may have been a threat to the area's water supply
State police say a credible witness reported seeing something brown about the size of a backpack either falling or thrown from a white plane with a red stripe a little after 2:30 p.m.
"State Police divers concluded their diving expedition throughout the entire lake area and found nothing," police spokesman Sgt. J. Paul Vance said. "They were unable to locate anything. A complete search of the property surrounding the reservoir has taken place. They found nothing."
Investigators interviewed pilots at Groton Airport and at airports in Rhode Island Friday in an effort to find out what the unidentified falling object was.
Water testing is being done by both the state health department and Groton Utilities. That will continue through the weekend.
Again, the water supply in the Groton area has been tested and found to be just fine.
These three reservoirs are all part of New York City's water supply system. Together, they have more than half the capacity of the NYC water supply system. See this official NYC water supply page.
The capacity of each of these reservoirs is about 100 billion gallons. It would take a huge amount of any chemical agent to achieve any significant level of contamination, because of the effect of dilution. This sounds completely impractical to me. Maybe a biological agent of some sort however?
Police say NJ Plane Didn't Fly Over Groton Reservoir
(Hartford-AP June 22, 2002 9:50AM) -- State police say a plane found in New Jersey does not appear to be the same plane witnesses say flew over a Groton reservoir this week.
Witnesses say they saw a red-and-white-striped plane drop a package into Smith Lake on Thursday.
State police spokesman Sergeant J. Paul Vance says troopers and F-B-I agents from Connecticut were in New Jersey yesterday to investigate, but preliminary findings showed no connection.
Vance says authorities are not searching the lake anymore. He say the water is still being tested. Officials have stressed that tap water is still safe to drink. After the report, water company officials immediately shut off supply from the lake to the water system.
Police are now asking any pilots who were in the area on Thursday to contact them if they have any information regarding the plane.