AUBURN – Water District trustees were apprised of five remaining construction projects Wednesday, all slated to be completed before winter.

Auburn Water District Superintendent Norm Lamie said an eight-inch water main is scheduled for replacement on Drummond Street between Spring and Pleasant streets, a six-inch main on Miller Street in the downtown area, and a small main on Brann Avenue off Poland Road. A new valve will be installed on Turner Street between Pleasant Street and the Union Street Bypass so the district can abandon 800 feet of 100-year-old 10-inch cast iron piping. Twelve residences on Washington Street between the rotary and Jefferson Street will transfer to a 24-inch main installed 10 years ago. Those homes are currently hooked up to a 75-year-old eight-inch main that is scheduled to be abandoned this year.

In other business, the trustees discussed the construction for the chloramination project inside the Auburn Water & Sewerage District’s garage on Court Street. That project is scheduled for completion in approximately one month with the new water treatment system in operation the first week of November.

The chloramine feed system would be a short-term solution for the next three to five years. Similar systems are in use in Massachusetts and New York, and in several cities in Europe. The cost in Auburn is expected to be between $150,000 and $175,000. The trustees abandoned a plan to place the chloramine feed system inside a trailer during the spring.

Lamie said earlier this year that the long-term solution that would satisfy federal and state environmental regulations would be a dual system, possibly using ultra violet light and ozone. He told the board that it is likely that Auburn and Lewiston would jointly build a facility at Lake Auburn between three and five years from now.

A water quality study conducted last winter indicated that chloramination would reduce acidic compounds that caused the district to be out of compliance with federal drinking water standards in late 2002 and during the first half of this year. Chloramination uses a combination of chlorine and ammonia to reduce haloacetic acids, discovered in drinking water in November 2002.

Haloacetic acidic compounds are created when chlorine added to water for disinfection combines with natural organic matter. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has established a maximum contaminant level of 60 parts per billion for haloacetic acids. It is based on the estimated lifetime cancer risk of one in 10,000, assuming an adult’s tap water consumption is eight and one-half cups per day for a 154-pound adult. The amount found in November was 65 parts per billion in a sample taken from within the water distribution system. The most recent testing indicated a level of 66 parts per billion.