$20m to be spent on water needs
Project advances as council backs requests to borrow funds
Amesbury is investing $20 million in a project aimed at meeting the major needs of its drinking-water system over the next two decades.
The Municipal Council this month unanimously approved requests by Mayor Thatcher W. Kezer III that the city be authorized to borrow $15 million to upgrade its water treatment plant and $5,076,000 to make improvements to its water distribution system.
The city plans to borrow the bulk of the money from a state revolving fund that provides 2 percent loans for local water projects. The state has approved the city to receive the low-interest loans from the program. The project debt will be covered through revenue from city water bills. The annual cost for a typical home using 53,000 gallons will be $143.
"The upgrade of our water treatment plant is an important investment in the community," Kezer said in a prepared statement. "It allows us to stay compliant with regulations for clean water and ensures we have the capacity to meet our future water needs."
Public works director Robert Desmarais said that with the council's authorization in place, the city will now move to sign a new contract with its engineering firm, Metcalf & Eddy, of Wakefield, to design the project. The same firm has handled preliminary work.
Desmarais said that with the improvements, "We will have a good water treatment plant that will be state of the art and provide us with clean, safe drinking water for the next 20 years." He said the project will also give the city additional water storage capacity, and improve fire protection and water quality in certain areas.
"We've spent a lot of time laying the groundwork for this, and it's good to be moving forward," he said.
Amesbury's drinking water, which comes from the Powow River and two ground-water wells, goes through the city's treatment plant, a 23-year-old brick building next to the river on Newton Road.
Desmarais said the plant is due for an overhaul because much of its equipment is aging and because it needs to expand capacity to keep pace with the growth of the community.
The plant treats an average of 1.7 million gallons a day, a figure that on hot summer days can reach or exceed its maximum design capacity of 3 million gallons. The upgrade will increase the maximum capacity to 4 million gallons per day.
The improvements are also needed for the city to comply with new federal water treatment regulations. One relates to the treatment of water-borne parasites - primarily cryptosporidium and giardia - that can cause gastrointestinal illness. According to Desmarais, the parasites are resistant to chlorination.
The other federal rule concerns treatment of the complex organic compounds that can form when dissolved organic material combines in the water with chlorine. Desmarais said federal officials are concerned that those byproducts may be carcinogenic.
Plans also call for replacement of mechanical equipment, the purchase of a centrifuge to dry the sludge - currently the sludge is dried in lagoons - and the repair or replacement of a 52-year-old downstream dam located near the plant's water intake pipe.
The water delivery improvements will include renovations needed to reactivate a 1-million-gallon water storage tank on Powow Hill. The city uses a nearby 2-million gallon tank for its water storage. The 1-million-gallon tank was put off line when the new tank went into service in 2002.
Desmarais said a second tank will give the city the ability to operate without the main tank if it needs to be shut down for service. It could also alleviate the need to operate the treatment plant around the clock on hot summer days.
Also as part of the project, 12-inch water mains will be installed on Highland Street, Hillside Avenue, and Elm Street, replacing 6-inch ones. The larger mains will allow for better fire protection in the area. The replacement of the nearly century-old unlined pipes will also mean less iron and manganese content in the water, improving quality.
The project also calls for construction of a new pumping station on Route 110, replacing an aging one, an improvement that will enhance water pressure for one of the neighborhoods around Lake Attitash.
