LEWISTON — The Twin Cities’ sewage treatment authority is being recognized by a national group for quality management, regulatory compliance and environmental performance.
The Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority is being certified by the National Biosolids Partnership Environmental Management System.
The authority will celebrate the certification with an open house from 9 to 11 a.m. Sept. 23 at the Lewiston facility, 535 Lincoln St.
“Basically, it recognizes that we are doing the best we can with this material that can have a pretty strong yuck factor,” said Superintendent Mac Richardson. “When you think about things like sewage sludge, the imagination can kind of run wild.”
Richardson said the authority has worked hard to keep its standards high.
“That includes communicating with the public,” he said. For example, the authority regularly contracts with Maine farmers to spread nutrient-rich sludge on their fields.
“But we also work with the neighbors closely to make sure they don’t have any issues,” he said. “It may sound silly, but we make sure to ask things like ‘Gee, you’re not having a wedding in your backyard next weekend, are you?'”
The authority is the third group in Maine to receive the certification and the first municipal treatment plant in New England.
“So we’re not planning a big hoopla, just something to celebrate the fact that we are now certified,” he said.
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