The action paves the way for the town to put into effect aquifer protection regulations in those areas.

The regulations were completed by the commission in 2007 and approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse the same year.

The map was prepared subsequently by Leggette, Brashears & Graham, Inc., a groundwater and environmental engineering firm in Shelton, and approved by the DEP in December, 2008.

The fact that the regulations and mapping had been accomplished prior to last week's hearing frustrated some residents.

"Do we have to accept this plan?" asked John Downs of 666 Roosevelt Drive.

"Yes, you do," responded the person who presented the plan, Larry Secor, senior environmental project manager with Nafis and Young, the town's engineering firm.

"Then we have no reason to be here," said Mr. Downs. "The land owner loses again."

The reason for the hearing, explained Mr. Secor, was to comply with DEP mandates regarding the implementation of the aquifer protection area program.

Mr. Secor suggested land owners stand to gain, not lose, because the program aimed to protect their drinking water.

According to the DEP's website, aquifer protection areas are being designated around the state's active well fields and regulations are being established in those areas to minimize the potential for contamination.

The regulations restrict development of certain new land use activities that use, store, handle or dispose of hazardous material and requires existing regulated land uses to register and follow best management practices.

Toward that end, Mr. Secor said, in about a month, all businesses along the Aquarion Water Company aquifer, which extends from the Seymour town line northward on Route 67, will be receiving a registration form which they will be asked to submit to the Oxford Aquifer Protection Agency.

There are no businesses located in the aquifer protection area on Route 34 in Oxford.

The registration form contains a checklist which will help the agency determine whether a facility is regulated or non-regulated.

Any businesses engaged in regulated activity commencing within the past five years are required to register the activity. Failure to register could result in a business losing the right to engage in that activity.

Businesses with regulated activity in existence over five years are grand-fathered, Mr. Secor said.

"But, going forward, regulated activity will not be allowed" in an aquifer protection area, he added.

The objective, said Mr. Secor, is not to put anyone out of business, but to protect the drinking water supply.

"The state is running out of drinking water," he said. "When we run out, we'll have to take ocean water and convert it to drinking water at a high cost."

Mr. Secor emphasized that homeowners are not affected by the program unless they operate a regulated business from their residences.

At the same time, he said the DEP was starting to clamp down on residents who still have underground fuel tanks, which could be leaking, and asking that they be removed and replaced with indoor tanks.

The DEP also is encouraging residents to protect storm water drains from pollution, he said.

Mr. Secor said it also made sense for residents living near a well field to avoid storing chemicals in their yards.

The commission noted that it was doing its part to protect the aquifer.

"This is the start of a good thing," Chairman Vinnie Vizzo said of the aquifer protection program.

"We're not trying to restrict your life."

John Hanusovsky of Woodside Avenue said he would have liked to have been notified years ago that the regulation was being considered, so he could have provided input into the process.

He asked that the commission inform him in the future whenever new regulations were being discussed.

The commission's approval of the aquifer protection map won't become effective until 15 days after the action is noticed, around May 4. The document also needs final approval from the DEP.