PWD planning new water quality project

The Passamaquoddy Water District (PWD) has entered into an agreement with the state's Drinking Water Program and the A.E. Hodsdon engineering firm to be the site of a pilot testing program to improve water quality. The PWD board met the evening of October 5 to discuss the funding, the plan and the timeline, with the three board members present, Chair Richard Clark, Sabattus "Sappy" Lewey and Randy Newcomb, voting in favor of the plan.
The PWD water treatment plant, which was built in 1989 to treat water from the impoundment on Boyden Stream in Perry, was primarily concerned with treating turbidity at the time it was brought online. However, additional contaminants now on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list include taste, odor, color and, as the support documents to the plan stressed, more importantly trihalomethanes and halocetic acids. "Eliminating these contaminants from the finish water is the objective of this proposed pilot testing program. If the pilot testing is successful, the plant then can be permanently upgraded to incorporate the changes," the plan states.
William Dawson, chief engineer with the Drinking Water Program, was on hand to discuss the $100,000 in grant funding that would be used for the pilot. While the initial estimate had the cost at closer to $140,000, Dawson and Hodsdon engineers Al Hodsdon and Mark McCluskey quickly began to find cost savings when going over the PWD's existing plant schematics with PWD board members and staff. The discussion centered around finding space within the existing plant to house two new granular-activated carbon (GAC) filters. "It's been a challenge to improve the finish quality of the water," said Dawson, and the GAC system may end up being the solution.
The GAC system would not be needed for operation year round, all agreed, with the warmer months generally the time when run off, rain storms and more cause problems with the existing filtration system. That may be of benefit in the long run, because the biggest unknown, if the pilot is successful, is how long the activated carbon would last before needing replacement. The cost to replace it is significant, with estimates at about $25,000.
McCluskey recommended that the PWD plan to set up a depreciation account that holds an amount from the user rate charges in order to build up a fund for replacing the carbon material. However, if the material needed to be replaced every few months the cost would be too exorbitant for the PWD customers to absorb in a rate increase, board members noted. The pilot program will help to build an understanding of these use and cost issues.
The engineers will work with PWD and Dawson to finalize the plan and the costs, with modifications to the PWD treatment plant being done over the winter and the pilot program to start filtration in the spring. The PWD board expected to be presented with a finalized plan and budget at an upcoming meeting.