NORTHFIELD — Selectboard members say the town is making good progress on sewer and water infrastructure improvements with help from grant funding and a state Department of Environmental Protection waiver.
The town was awarded $240,000 from the Executive Office of Economic Development’s Community One Stop for Growth grant program to support electrical repairs at the Northfield Wastewater Treatment Plant. Additionally, MassDEP has reinstated a filtration waiver for the Grandin Reservoir, thus easing the burden of a new water filtration system at the East Northfield Water Co. dam that has delayed the town’s effort to move forward with implementing a new Grandin Water District.
“I keep using the sports metaphor of a football game, but it’s like we got a few yards at a time and now it just feels like a field goal or a touchdown,” Selectboard Chair Barbara “Bee” Jacque said. “We’re kinda stunned and excited at the same time.”
Wastewater Treatment Plant
In the fall of 2020, MassDEP informed the Northfield Sewer Commission that the conditions of the Wastewater Treatment Plant, which was built in 1970, failed to meet minimum Inflow and Infiltration requirements and would require nearly $8 million in improvements to become compliant.
Since then, the town has worked with MassDEP and other state officials, including state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, to seek funding and assistance to reach compliance in a way that would be affordable for the small town. Meanwhile, Town Meeting voters have approved some upgrades at the plant, including pipe replacements, a survey of the property and, most recently, at Annual Town Meeting this past May, voters approved spending $150,000 to replace an electrical control panel at the plant.
Town Administrator Andrea Llamas said the town is currently in talks with the U.S. Department of Agriculture about the needs of the Wastewater Treatment Plant, and potential designs for a new one, but it will be years before a new plant can be funded and built. In the meantime, smaller repairs are necessary to keep the plant operational.
She added that the funding approved by Northfield voters, plus the $240,000 state grant, will fund the replacement of an electrical panel that failed last year.
“They lost half the electrical panel and have been on life support,” Llamas said. “The current panel cannot fail.”
Grandin Reservoir
In addition to the funding for Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades, Selectboard members discussed a filtration waiver from MassDEP. Previously, MassDEP had told the town it would need to upgrade its filtration system after a study from engineering firm Tighe & Bond found substandard water quality levels at the Grandin Reservoir.
After meeting with Kristen Elechko, who serves as western Massachusetts director with the Governor’s Office, as well as Comerford and water service officials, Jacque told her fellow Selectboard members in September that MassDEP was requiring the East Northfield Water Co. to invest in a new filtration system, the cost of which could exceed $10 million, to make the transition to the Grandin Water District. The change would move water services from a private entity to a nonprofit that would have better access to low-cost grants and loans.
Donald Glascoff Jr. of the East Northfield Water Co. said in an interview in September that the company was seeking to find a more affordable water filtration system that would still align with MassDEP’s requirements. He said the company has been able to get the cost estimate down to $5 million, with one of the key variables being whether the company would need to construct a new building to house the filtration system or whether a new system could fit in the existing treatment building on the dam.
“We received news on Friday that DEP has reinstated the filtration waiver for the East Northfield Water Company’s Grandin Reservoir,” Comerford told Selectboard members on Tuesday. “It gives us a bit of breathing room together to be able to make the advances that I know Northfield wants to make.”
Comerford had previously said that she hoped to help MassDEP “understand that our communities need to right-size the solutions.”
“We had a robust conversation about the ways Northfield is just different,” Comerford told the Selectboard on Tuesday. “Smaller system, leaner budget, wanting DEP to really think outside the box with Northfield about a path forward.”
Llamas clarified that the East Northfield Water Co. previously had a filtration waiver, but MassDEP revoked it amid conversations about transferring assets to the new Grandin Water District. Having the waiver back in place will allow licenses and assets to be transferred to the district, which would then be able to apply for state and federal funds to support installing a new filtration system.
“There’s still a lot to do, but it now becomes a possibility,” Llamas said Thursday.
Jacque said the Selectboard and Sewer Commission will continue to work with MassDEP to find solutions that meet state regulations and fall within the town’s budget.