|
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.
|