JAY — The superintendent of the town’s Sewer Department is expected to send surveys this week to customers in North Jay in an effort to get a grant to pay 75 percent of a planning study.

Superintendent Mark Holt wants to determine if it is more cost effective to upgrade the nearly 20-year-old North Jay Sewer Treatment Plant or set up a system to send the wastewater from North Jay to the Jay village sewer collection system. The wastewater would then go to the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The survey will be used to determine the median income of about 100 customers to see if Jay would qualify for a grant from U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development. If the town qualifies and is awarded the grant, Jay would be responsible for paying 25 percent of the cost of the study.

With the changes in the valuation of the town and Verso Androscoggin LLC’s paper mill, it is suspected the median income has changed since the last census data was collected.

If it is more cost effective to send the wastewater to Jay village, the system would consist of a pump station at the North Jay treatment facility and a force main from the facility to the ATV/multipurpose trail on Old Jay Hill Road.

A new gravity sewer main will be installed to get the wastewater connected to the sewer system at the Jay Plaza.

Holt has been keeping selectpersons up-to-date on his efforts.

The Maine Department of Conservation, which owns the Whistle Stop Trail which runs through Jay on a former railroad bed, and Gov. Paul LePage are on board with the proposed project, Holt told selectpersons this fall. The Legislature would have to approve of the system running along the trail.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

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