WINTERPORT (May 2): U.S. Sens. Olympia J.
Snowe and Susan Collins announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture
has awarded $14.2 million to Maine for water and environmental
projects, including $710,000 for the Winterport Water District.
More
from the Village Soup News......
WHAT IS FLUSHABLE?
An
Emerging Problem For the Winterport Water District: Consumer Wipes
Over
the last few years, the Winterport Water District has experienced an
increase in wastewater pump station malfunctions. Plant staff have
regularly needed to unclog mounds of disposable wipes from sewage
pumps, at considerable expense and environmental consequence.
Attempts to address this problem with retrofits and operational
changes have not been successful. In the month of December, a sewage
pump was damaged with a projected repair expense of $2,000 due to it
being clogged with the new type “disposable wipes”. Now the
Winterport Water District is considering the construction of a $1.5
million screening facility to prevent these “disposable wipes” from
reaching the sewage pumps and the treatment plant process itself.
This will also help eliminate the potential of any sanitary sewer
overflows into the Penobscot River (raw sewage discharge into
receiving waters) due to the pump plugging problem. More.........
NOTICE TO
ALL WINTERPORT WATER DISTRICT SEWER CUSTOMERS
We are writing to inform you of an
important regulatory issue that has the potential of affecting all
sewer customers of the Winterport Water District. As you know, the
District operates a wastewater treatment plant on Sampson Street
that was constructed in 1984 to process sewage flows from
Winterport's village area.
The Winterport Water District recently
received a letter from EPA advising that the treatment plant will no
longer be allowed to operate as a primary facility. This will force
the District to upgrade the present treatment plant to the secondary
level. Such an upgrade will be very expensive and will potentially
cost millions of dollars with no appreciable benefit to the
Penobscot River's water quality. More......
Over
the last few years, the Winterport Water District has experienced an
increase in wastewater pump station malfunctions. Plant staff have
regularly needed to unclog mounds of disposable wipes from sewage
pumps, at considerable expense and environmental consequence.
Attempts to address this problem with retrofits and operational
changes have not been successful. In the month of December, a sewage
pump was damaged with a projected repair expense of $2,000 due to it
being clogged with the new type “disposable wipes”. Now the
Winterport Water District is considering the construction of a $1.5
million screening facility to prevent these “disposable wipes” from
reaching the sewage pumps and the treatment plant process itself.
This will also help eliminate the potential of any sanitary sewer
overflows into the Penobscot River (raw sewage discharge into
receiving waters) due to the pump plugging problem.