MONTAGUE — The Water Pollution Control Facility expects to propose a significant equipment upgrade for next year’s budget, which would adapt the facility to working more efficiently without the paper manufacturers that used to be its largest customers.
The consideration comes after the Montague sewer department was notified in September by the regulatory agencies that monitor it — the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — that its water purification processes had not met quality standards in a few isolated instances earlier this year.
The problem, according to Chelsey Little, superintendent of the Water Pollution Control Facility, is that the system was built when the largest sewer customers in Montague were paper mills, and the sewer plant had to accommodate wastewater that was heavy in paper waste.
Now, those mills have closed, and so the wastewater is different in consistency than what the system is designed to handle, Little explained.
The water now takes longer to process than it should. Sometimes, Little said, the department has had to go over its budget for solid waste processing, and has had to pay workers overtime to monitor the overly lengthy process.
The machine that should be replaced is what’s called a wastewater press. The current press is suited to the wastewater that the department had when large paper manufacturers were among its primary customers.
“I think it makes sense to move toward the press we need for the waste that we have,” Little said.
A budget request for the new machine will be sent to the town Capital Improvements Committee by November, Little said.
The state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have also requested a plan to resolve the issues cited in September. In general, Little noted, the sewer department exceeds the requirements of its permits, and does not have issues with legal compliance.