Winterport Water District Receives American Recovery & Reinvestment Act Funds for Water System Improvements

The Winterport Water District will be improving its public drinking water system thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The funding will be used for a backup well at its existing water pumping station to provide mechanical and hydraulic redundancy in the event of failure of the current primary system.

Under the ARRA the Winterport Water District has received $143,000 of federal stimulus funding through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for improvements to its water system. Of that amount, $57,600 will be provided in the form of principle forgiveness or grant funding with the remainder being a zero-interest loan.

The project comes about as an identified material system weakness in a Comprehensive System Facilities Plan prepared by Dirigo Engineering of Fairfield, Maine, in 2008. The plan revealed that with just the District's one well and pump the utility could experience mechanical difficulties and cause interruptions in water service to its customers. This redundancy will also be important during maintenance of the utility’s 800,000-gallon water storage tank.

District officials note that the funding arrangement could not have happened at a better time, particularly with the grant monies involved with funding the project. As a result of the favorable funding to be administered by the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, the annual debt service payment for the project spread over a 20-year period will be $4,598.48. This will result in approximately a $3.77 quarterly increase or a 0.04-cent per day increase to the District’s customers.

The project will start in October and is expected to be completed in late spring of 2010. The scope of the project will consist of preliminary hydrogeology work and several test wells to be placed near the existing well. A production well will be developed as a result of the test well data. Associated piping, electrical, and system control work to connect the well to the District’s pumping station will complete the project.

Typically, the Maine Drinking Water Program receives $20 million to $30 million worth of requests per year for drinking water state revolving loan funds. This year, because of the stimulus funding, the drinking water program received over $90 million worth of requests for improvements to Maine's water utilities. District officials acknowledge that the funding and award process was a very competitive process.

State Inspects Winterport drinking water facilities
district receives high marks for operations
The State of Maine Drinking Water Program and the Maine Center for Disease Control recently inspected the facilities and operations of the Winterport Water District. The state inspection revealed no discrepancies and a well functioning public drinking water utility.  As the inspection reports not all improvements to the utility have been capital intensive; the Employees and Board of Trustees were commended for inaugurating an enhanced operations and maintenance program that covers the entire system from its water source and through the water distribution system. The complete inspection report from the State of Maine can can be read here.

New Water System in Service for Winterport Customers

The Winterport Water District has placed a new well and pumping station in service beginning in July 2007. The new 8 inch well replaces the four 2 inch well points used by the District for over 30 years. The new well will pump 150 gallons per minute as compared to 30 gallons per minute from the old well points. During the times of high demand the well has the capacity to deliver 270 gallons per minute.

The new pumping station structure replaces the early 1900's pump station. New telemetry including Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA) provides improved telemetry and operating controls for the facility operator. Onsite emergency back up power will provide electricity in the case of power outages.