Members present: Leo Filion, Peter Roy, Judith Carr, Rick McMenimen and Diane Hardy. Also present were Ed Wojnowski, Town Administrator and Sean Greig, Water and Wastewater Superintendent. CIP members Don Parnell and Dana Glennon were excused.
The CIP committee met at the parking lot at the intersection of Bay Road and Lamprey Street and proceeded to tour the Bay Road and Creighton Street Pump Stations, followed by a tour of the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Resident Cal Whiton, who resides at Bryant Rock, was in attendance for part of the site walk.
Bay Road Pump Station: The original station was built in 1969 and upgraded in 1985, when a diesel generator was added. The system is designed as a 500 gallon per minute (GPM) facility. It consists of a 10’x12’x6’ wet well and a 10 h, 55 kw generator. This pump station services the northeastern portion of town, east of the Lamprey River up Route 108 towards Durham and up Bay Road to the Jablonski property. There is a six (6) inch force main which goes from the Bay Road pump station under the river to the wastewater treatment plant.
Although the lift station has a 50 year life cycle, it needs to be upgraded to accommodate future growth in the area. Sean Greig discussed plans to replace the existing pump house with a similar design to be located on-site next to the original. There would be a new pump, wet well and a flow meter vault. The project would also include replacement of the force main under the river and replacement of the generator. This upgrade would increase the capacity of the lift station to accommodate future development. The estimated cost to upgrade this facility is $2 million. Leo Filion asked why there was no chart or graph recorder to show how often and how long the pumps are operating to provide daily flow data and maximum pumping times. It was explained this was not a requirement for pump stations under 500 GPM.
Creighton Street Pump Station
Sanitary flows from the Town’s sewered areas are collected at the Creighton Street pump station. This pump station is considered the main lift station and the “headworks” to the WWTP. There are three (3) 50 horsepower pumps at the pump station. There have been periodic issues with the pumps overheating, which over time, can cause seal failures. Recently, fans and a new ventilation system were installed, which has helped the situation; however, a long term solution is needed. During peak periods, there is a demand to pump over 3.6 million gallons per day, which forces the Sewer Department to run all three (3) pumps simultaneously to keep up with demand. It will cost approximately 35 K to replace each pump.
There is need for new screens which would replace the two channel grinders at the Creighton Street Pump Station. The grinders require high energy and maintenance costs. A recent “re-build” of one of the grinders cost the Town nearly $30,000 for repairs. It is also recommended that a fine screen system be installed which collects, washes, compacts and packages the inorganics in a more cost-effective manner. The cost of the new screens and washing press is estimated at approximately $120,000. The grinder room experiences flooding during periods of peak flows. The water level can be as high as 16 inches above floor level.
Wastewater Treatment Plant
From the Creighton Street pump station, the wastewater is pumped via a 12-inch force main to the wastewater treatment plant on Young Lane. At the front end (WWTP influent) there is a vortex system, which was installed in 2000, which removes and separates grit. The wastewater then flows to two (2) primary clarifiers, which were put in 1969, which allows for settling of the heavier solids. The effluent goes to the trickling filters where it flows down through the rocks, breaks down and then goes to the secondary clarifiers for further settling. The secondary treatment process, which is made up of two trickling filters and secondary clarifier, was added in 1985. The wastewater then flows to a “parshall flume”. The wastewater is disinfected in two (2) clorination contact chambers, and is, then, declorinated, before it is discharged through a 14 inch diffuser outfall which is located in a deep trench on the bottom of the Lamprey River. The Waterwater Treatment Plant building, itself, was built in 1969. It includes generators, labs, map files and offices.
Sludge from the primary and secondary process is pumped to a gravity thickener, and, then, to two (2) anaerobic digesters and a belt filter press for sludge de-watering, which reduces the sludge from 3% solids to 20% solids. The Wastewater Treatment Plant is provided heat from the Methane gas that is generated by the anaerobic process. There are drying beds on site which can be used, as an alternative method of de-watering the sludge. The sludge is tested four (4) times a year and then hauled to an approved landfill. Pre-treatment is not required in Newmarket due to few industrial and manufacturing concerns.
The current WWTF is designed to accommodate .85 MGD. The instantaneous flow on the day the plant was visited was recorded at .36 MGD. It was noted that this was typical as July is a month where they are very low flows due to dry weather conditions.
Future improvements
The Town is required to upgrade its wastewater treatment system by an Administrative Order which was issued by EPA in 2004. The Town is working with Underwood Engineers, Inc. who is assisting with options for addressing the Administrative Order and is currently updating the 201 Facilities Plan.
The Plant’s current capacity is .85 million gallons per day (MGD): however, design flows which were projected for the year 2025 in the previous 201 Facility Plan, (which was last updated in 2002,) indicated the need for a 1.28 MGD facility. The estimated cost for the wastewater treatment plant upgrade is $15 million. While some federal funding may be available through the American Reinvestment Recovery Act (ARRA) for this project, it is likely this project, will have a major impact on the Town’s sewer rates.
As part of the work that Underwood Engineers is currently doing, the wastewater projections will be re-evaluated. It appears 2002 projections have been overstated. It is anticipated the projected capacity will be in the order of .85 MGD which would reduce the upgrade costs to $12 million. Underwood Engineers is refining all the costs associated with upgrading the wastewater treatment facility.
As part of this process, the Town will need to renew its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, which means meeting new federal and state limits. As the Town’s current processes do not meet those standards, additional treatment enhancements are needed. Specifically, future improvements include treatment modifications to remove nitrogen to a level of 8, 5 or 3 mg/L, and phorphorus to a level of 10 mg/L.
It is anticipated that design for the upgraded system would be completed within the next year, so construction can start in 2012 and be completed by 2014.
The new standards are partly in response to a recent water quality study of Great Bay estuary which suggests nitrogen that is discharged from the waste water treatment facilities as well as from “non point” sources such as urban runoff, fertilizer from lawns and agriculture ,and septic tanks is contributing to water quality problems in the estuary. This has been evidenced by the loss of ellgrass and reduced levels of dissolved oxygen in Great Bay. EPA and the NH DES are developing new (and more stringent) standards on nitrogen. It is unclear what the standards will be and how it will impact Newmarket’s WWTF. What is clear is the current processes in the Wastewater Treatment Facility Plant won’t meet the new discharge limits. With the cost of upgrading the Creighton Street pump station estimated at $1.1 million dollars and $2 million to upgrade the Bay Road system, there is increasing concerns about the major costs to be incurred over the next 3 or 4 years, and the overall impact on the town’s sewer rates.
Minimizing the amount of “infiltration and inflow” entering the system is an important element of upgrading the wastewater system in order to minimize the expense of facility expansion. It is estimated that close to 50% of the current wastewater flows are associated with infiltration and inflow or “I/I”. Underwood Engineers, Inc. has completed an inflow and infiltration study which identified the need to implement repairs throughout the sewer collection system in order to reduce the amount of I/I. Currently, the Town is the upgrading facilities in New Village. This project involves the replacement of sewer lines on Forest, Grape, Elder and Beech Streets. This project addresses part of the Administrative Order from EPA/NH DES. The Town has received a $940,000 grant through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) program. The Town is also proceeding with replacing 1400 water flow meters under same program. The new water flow meters will help the Town identify water losses in the system.
The CIP committee also discussed the man hole cover replacement project. The I/I study also identified manholes that need to be replaced in order to reduce the infiltration and, thus, overall treatment costs. Approximately 150 manholes have been inspected to determine whether groundwater infiltration is entering the wastewater system through cracks and splits in the walls, leaks at pipe connections, cracks in the base and through invert joints. The Sewer Department is currently requesting $31,000 for replacement of the manholes in the worst state of disrepair. This request is being considered by the Town Council. The project is proposed to be funded out of the Sewer Capital Reserve Fund, which has a balance of $489, 121. There was discussion as to whether these costs could be funded out of the sewer capital reserve fund.
The CIP committee will meet again tentatively scheduled for the second week in August. Ed Wjnowski will be sending out a letter to department heads requesting they submit their CIP budgets. As the CIP requests come in, the Departments will be scheduled to meet with the CIP committee, as done in years past.
Minutes
The minutes of the July 1, 2010 meeting will be taken up at the next meeting.
Adjourn
The committee adjourned the meeting at 4:35 p.m. upon a motion by Judith Carr and a second by Peter Roy. All in favor.
