Wastewater Treatment Plant Present: Ken Troup
March 16, 2006 Harold Brown
Bill Spratt
Burt Shnitzler
The Wastewater Treatment Plant Committee met at 9:00 a.m. at the Town Hall. Nat Tipton and Curt Plante were also present.
BRIEF UPDATE
David Formato, Project Engineer and Jack O’Connell, Senior Vice President of Tata and Howard met with the Wastewater Treatment Plant Committee this evening. Mr. Formato stated that they are in the process of evaluating all the data to determine the design criteria. This information should be available next week. Ducharme and Dillis are scheduled to start wetlands and survey work over the next few weeks.
Tata and Howard reported that the soil data collected at the leaching site is not consistent with the flow information. Additional monitoring wells and testing will be required to confirm this information. Based on the present information the gallons per day may be lower which would not allow for any other buildings to be hooked up to the treatment plant other than the schools.
On a motion made by Spratt and seconded by Brown, the Wastewater Treatment Plant Committee voted to authorize the spending, not to exceed $6,000, for further testing of the site. (Troup – yes, Spratt – yes, Brown – yes).
Tata and Howard stated that they were more confident that the project would be approximately $2 million versus the $3 million previously anticipated. Tata and Howard agreed to have cost estimates of the project for the meeting with the Advisory Committee on Tuesday evening. The estimates will be broken down by site, equipment, leaching and building.
Mr. Plante stated that it would be very expensive to hook up the library and town hall to the treatment plant – piping over land compared to putting in a septic system.
The site visit to other treatment plants went well. They were informative and gave everyone a feel for what the treatment plants look like and the technologies that are available. Members favored the membrane technology.
The Wastewater Treatment Plant Committee asked to see the costs associated with all three technology approaches. The Committee discussed giving town meeting the choice of the building design. Tata and Howard agreed to have the treatment technology costs available for a meeting on March 30, 2006 at 9:00 a.m.
Mr. Plante stated that reuse of the water should not be the only reason for choosing the membrane and cautioned the Committee on making the decision on a higher cost when you don’t get the benefit. Mr. Plante stated that he is presently fighting with Lancaster land trust on this same issue of reuse of treatment plant water. Mr. Troup stated that the membrane works better for intermittent flows that the schools have.
The Committee will meet on Thursday, March 30 at 9:00 a.m. at which time Tata and Howard will provide a comparison of costs associated with the three technologies. Tata and Howard agreed to email the Committee the information prior to the meeting.
Mr. Troup also informed Tata and Howard that he would like them to attend the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Thursday, April 20, 2006 to discuss the project.
Meeting adjourned.
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