JAY — The town will receive a $2 million grant to help offset an estimated $3.9 million sewer conversion in North Jay, Sewer Department Superintendent Mark Holt told selectpersons Monday.

The Select Board voted in October to spend up to $30,000 to have the Maine Rural Water Association conduct a median income survey of sewer users in town.

Residents voted in September to move forward on the project that will eliminate use of the North Jay Treatment Plant. In its place, a pump station will be installed along with 19,000 feet of sewer line to connect the North Jay sewer system to the gravity sewer system near Jay Plaza in Jay Village.

The sewage would go to the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant. Part of the pipeline will run beside the a multiuse trail owned by the state.

The grant money will come from a $30 million bond to improve wastewater infrastructures that Maine voters approved in November, Holt said.

There are two more sources for grants and loan principal forgiveness that Jay is seeking, he said.

One of the reasons Jay received the state grant was because abandoning the North Jay plant will eliminate discharge into Seven Mile Stream, Holt said.

Bids for other sewer projects around the state are coming in higher than anticipated, he said. There is a “healthy contingency” amount included in the $3.9 million, he said.

“We are hoping to get the (requests for proposals) sent out by the end of April,” Holt said.

Officials are still in the process of filing for environmental permits, he added.

The Planning Board approved flood plain and shoreland zoning permits in March for the conversion on conditions that voters approve sewer easements and a lease, and the town receives state and federal permits.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

 

 

 

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