The planning for a massive upgrade to the filtering system in the Mattapoisett Water Treatment Plant has reached its fine-tuning stages, and the Mattapoisett River Valley Water District Commission wasn’t at all thrown off by a corporate takeover of Koch Separation Solutions, the designer of the state-of-the-art system to be installed in the plant that services MRV member towns Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Marion and Rochester.
It was all systems go when the MRV convened Tuesday afternoon via Zoom for its monthly meeting.
Jon Gregory, representing engineering consultants Tata & Howard, referenced the switch in name from Koch to Kovalus (the result of an acquisition by a Sun Capital Partners affiliate) and said only a final question on an electrical issue remains before the MRV should receive a final submittal from the designer for the commission’s final review. Gregory anticipates the final submittal this week, after which the skids (not just the membrane) will be pushed into production.
One issue that continues to drag is where the project stands on the state Department of Environmental Protection list of priorities. Gregory, Water Treatment Plant Supervisor Henri Renauld and MRV Chairman Vinnie Furtado put together a written testimony and sent on January 31 to state officials, and Representative William Straus, a Mattapoisett resident, also wrote a letter on MRV’s behalf.
In the meantime, Gregory told the commission he is working with an electrical consultant and a substructural consultant. Part of permitting for the construction phase, he explained, is in providing a bypass plan to MassDEP. Incorporated into that plan would be public outreach and sampling, duration, etc. That is all in the works.
Tata & Howard representatives were to meet with Atlantium Technologies on Wednesday in Marlborough.
MRV commission/committee member David Pierce asked if, beyond the filter-upgrade project, are further upgrades in store for the plant itself? Gregory noted that the initial loan will be paid off in July 2026, leaving a short overlap with debt to be incurred with the purchase of the new filtering system and equipment.
(On Monday, Renauld went before the Mattapoisett Select Board with a proposal for a new building to house the town’s Water and Sewer Department operations.)
Pierce also asked if the power failure at the Water Treatment Plant resulting from the August 8, 2023, tornado could have been more easily mitigated by a generator with a larger storage tank. Renauld indicated that a permanent, underground tank could be potentially dangerous.
“One of my biggest concerns is how much fuel do we want to store in our (plant),” said Renauld. “To maintain something specifically underground … as of now a truck can park there with 2,000 gallons.”
With the current capacity, the plant can continue operating for approximately two days during a power outage. In July and August, that number decreases to approximately 36 hours.
For now, Renauld reported that the plant is “running fairly well.” He is participating in the effort to devise a plan to bypass the filtering system during the upgrade project later this year. Renauld was happy to report that the rooftop at the plant has been installed. A valve change required three days of work over the weekend.
In his monthly Tata & Howard report, Gregory said he is meeting with Renauld to update the five-year capital plan, and this time went out one more additional year, finalizing and sending out the 2023 annual district report (for member towns to include in their reports to voters in this spring’s annual town meetings.)
In his Treasurer’s Report to the commission, Renauld said a total of $77,220.34 was paid out over the prior month, including a bill of $39,512.47 to Eversource, over $12,000 to chemical distributors Borden & Remington, and Tata & Howard invoices of $6,720 and $4,543. He also noted that the rooftop heating unit for which the commission approved $16,520 has been installed. “We have heat now,” he said.
In the MRV Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee meeting immediately preceding that of the commission, Gregory reported having transmitted October and November 2023 river-monitoring graphs to the membership and said he will soon have December 2023 information from Megan McCarthy. Once he looks through the whole year’s data, Tata & Howard will put together and present a visual summary for the year and take questions.
Operations over the last month with river monitoring have posed no complications, and the MRV has two spare level loggers at its disposal.
In a vote following a short discussion, the committee authorized Vinnie Furtado to write a letter recommending that the Rochester Planning Board go forward with the Approval Not Required (ANR) application filed by Walter Hartley and John Libby Consulting for the separation of a lot on Hartley Road into two buildable lots.
In his Treasurer’s Report to the committee, Jeff Furtado announced an ending balance as of February 1 of $202,826.09. Among new invoices approved for payment by Vinnie Furtado was $2,216.49 to Tata & Howard.
The annual notice of assessment reports that Marion will pay in excess of $18,000, Mattapoisett over $14,000 and Fairhaven over $13,000.
McCarthy combined meeting minutes for all of 2023 into one document for committee’s and commission’s consumption.
Citing negligible interest coming into the committee’s account via conventional banking, Pierce suggested the committee research available certificates of deposit. “It’s never been worth our while, but the interest on the CD’s is up now.” Pierce. “It’s still secure funds, but it gets much better interest.” Jeff Furtado will look into it, and the committee will review the matter with Anne Carreiro.
The next meeting of the MRV Water District Commission/Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 3:30 pm (committee) and 4:00 pm (commission.)
MRV Water District Commission/Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee
By Mick Colageo