Officials praise wastewater facility’s decreased footprint

13 years ago

By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer

LIMESTONE — Though it’s a few months shy from completion, the new Greater Limestone Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility is already turning heads and perking ears in the larger environmental and business community as well as providing efficient effluence services for customers in town.

ne-water-dc1-ar-36-clrAroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Discussion was abundant during a tour for state and area legislators of the new facilities of the Greater Limestone Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility on Aug. 30. Taking part in the tour were, from left, Rep. Peter Edgecomb (R-Caribou), USDA Rural Development State Director Virginia Manuel; Maine DEP Acting Commissioner Pattie Aho; LDA President and CEO Carl Flora; Greater Limestone Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility Chairman Neal Leighton; EPA Region One Administrator Curt Spalding; representative of Sen. Susan Collins, Phil Bosse and representative of Congressman Mike Michaud, Barbara Hayslett.

At a small press conference at the Loring Commerce Centre on Aug. 30, USDA Rural Development State Director Virginia Manuel joined EPA Regional Administrator Curt Spalding and Maine DEP Acting Commissioner Pattie Aho in highlighting “one of the most affordable and advanced wastewater facilities in the country,” officials said, adding that the gathering was an excellent opportunity to highlight the unique project as well as the important partnership between USDA Rural Development and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Following discussion at the LDA, Manuel, Spalding, Aho and a school bus of local and project representatives toured the new wastewater facilities.

Officials cited the Greater Limestone Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility as being impressive for many reasons — including cooperation it took from each level of government to fund the new wastewater infrastructure. The roughly $21 million project brought together federal, state and local partners to regionalize two aging rural wastewater treatment facilities in Limestone and the former base into one state-of-the-art complex.

With a price tag that large, Limestone Water and Sewer (LWS) Department Superintendent Jim Leighton says there’s no way a project of this magnitude could have been accomplished without financial support from the larger agencies. Operating expenses for LWS from FY 2010 were pretty standard at about $335,000 with operating expenses following close behind, meaning upgrades of this extent wouldn’t have happened for the small community with tremendous business potential.

“It would have been impossible to fund a project of this capacity,” Leighton said.

Before the massive sewer makeover, wastewater treatment operations at Limestone and on the Commerce Centre were discharging into three small bodies of water — the Little Madawaska River, the Limestone Stream and the Greenlaw Brook — all small waterways that were being assigned increasingly stringent regulations.

Meeting those regulations was becoming harder and harder for the wastewater facilities to meet, which meant an increased frequency of expensive testing and fines without resources to solve the problem once and for all — the longer Limestone was tied into those small streams, the more expensive it got for the department and, resultantly, its customers.  

“There was a need for an upgrade all-around,” he said, describing how the new buildings are energy efficient while featuring a reduced footprint in the local riparian ecosystems — instead of utilizing small bodies of water, the new system discharges into the Aroostook River where there’s a better dilution factor to handle the flow.

The new wastewater facility will convey effluent over three miles to the Aroostook River — which is able to handle the capacity — and officials are confident that the updated wastewater infrastructure can support potential businesses and job creation at the Commerce Centre. The ongoing 16-month construction project has already created nearly 300 jobs and the Loring Development Authority, which manages the business park, expects hundreds of permanent jobs to be created now that wet industry – like potato processing plants – can utilize the business park.

The impressive project includes upgrades to install energy-efficient pumps, as well as motors, controls, building improvements, and construction of a new generator building with a new solar photovoltaic electrical system. The energy-efficiency upgrades to the plant are estimated to result in savings of approximately $37,000 per year for the facility.

USDA Rural Development’s Manuel said, “I am pleased that USDA Rural Development has been the major contributor in this project, having provided $11.35 million of the nearly $21 million project cost to assist in the implementation of the wastewater infrastructure necessary to support businesses and job creation in Limestone area. This infrastructure helps sustain the conversion of a major military base to civilian uses.”

EPA Region 1’s Spalding said, “EPA is very proud of the work done here to upgrade Limestone’s wastewater treatment facility. This is a great example of how a well-coordinated partnership of federal and state efforts is helping local communities all across Maine and New England to position themselves for robust economic growth with stable and sustainable infrastructure.”

“The Greater Limestone Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility is proof positive that the right thing to do for our health and our environment is also the right thing to do for our economy,” said Acting DEP Commissioner Aho. “This project protects public health, improves the water quality of sensitive area streams and puts in place the infrastructure integral to attracting the industries and investment of Aroostook County’s thriving tomorrow.”

USDA Rural Development and the Environmental Protection Agency announced a Memorandum of Understanding on Aug. 8 highlighting the agencies’ commitment to jointly improve rural drinking water and wastewater systems across the country, and officials were proud to say that this project is a prime example of what can be accomplished through that agreement.

Together, the agencies plan to assist rural systems nationwide in implementing strategies and tools to allow them to achieve short- and long-term sustainability, ensuring the protection of public health, water quality, and sustainable communities.

The transition from the old system to the new has gone pretty seamlessly (minus intermittent road construction through a few of Limestone’s streets), but the old Limestone Wastewater Treatment Plant is without purpose — it’s set up as a designated overflow in the case of some sort of wastewater catastrophy.

“In case anything unexpected happens, it would give us about three or four days of holding time under normal flow situations,” he said.