FARMINGTON — At the June 14 Selectmen meeting Stephen Millett, head of the wastewater department gave a review of department activities during 2021.
“2021 was a busy year,” Millett said.
At the beginning of the year Joe Hartigan, Paul Stanzel and Millett took the courses required to obtain the 18 continuing education credits needed to renew their wastewater certifications.
The department contracted with Mike Rioux of Mobius Automation to back up all U.S. Route 2 pump stations should communication be lost with the plant’s SCADA system [Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition is a control system using computers, data communications and graphical user interfaces for high-level supervision of machines and processes. It also covers sensors and other devices that connect with machinery, according to Wikipedia].
If radio communication with SCADA is lost, monitoring information from that pump station would not be received, Millett noted. The backup alarm warns staff of the loss, that the pump station needs to be checked for problems and try to re-establish communications, he explained.
“It is a pretty important thing to have,” Millett said. “If the battery goes dead we lose everything.”
A complete inventory of parts and equipment for the plant and pump stations was started to determine what is on hand. The list would help compile an inventory of equipment and replacements parts needed to keep the plant running. The list is long and ongoing, he said.
Millett received a $12,385 quote from Hayes Pump Company for a new Fairbanks Morse pump for the return activated sludge system. “The motor would have to be purchased separately,” he said. The department has three of the pumps online and no spare for any of them, he noted.
When a Penn Valley disc pump – one of three sludge wasting pumps used – went down in March a new one was purchased, Millett said. Parts were ordered and Hartigan rebuilt the pump to provide a spare, he noted. Nine of the pumps are in use at the treatment facility, Millett said he planned to purchase another new one for a spare.
“We rotate them out, they operate 24/7,” he added.
All collection system maps and plant drawings were scanned and printed on Mylar sheets.
“Most of these maps and plans were originally made in the late [19]60s and early [19]70, were badly faded and getting hard to read,” Millett said. Sections that had faded were enhanced making them easier to read, he noted. In all 538 map size sheets were made for just under $3,700, he added.
June began the final six months of the current five-year discharge permit with the state. During this time the facility needed to meet a 5.2 pounds of total Phosphorus weekly average discharge into the Sandy River.
For the most part, the department was able to meet that, Millett said. “We had two weeks where we had higher than average rainfall, and all the area schools and college came back,” he noted. Both contributed to an increase in daily flow and pounds of discharge, neither of which can be controlled, he added.
Millett said 16 manholes were redone last year, with nine on High Street as part of the reconstruction project between Broadway and South Street.
The application to obtain the next five-year State of Maine Discharge Permit has been completed and sent to the Department of Environmental Protection. Millett said it could be two to three years before the new permit is received as the head of the DEP processes the applications and the former head has not been replaced. The DEP is also behind on new permits, Millett noted.
Selectman Stephan Bunker asked what the general health of the system was.
“It is very good,” Millett said. “Over the four years from 2017 to 2020 the entire system was videoed and cleaned by Ted Berry. We will be starting the whole process on about 30 miles of collection lines again in 2023.”
Town Manager Christian Waller asked if there was any significant change in the number of customers in 2021.
“Not really,” Millett said. He noted there was construction being planned behind Cascade Leisure Park and a 25-unit apartment complex is going in across from the hospital on Route 133.
Was there any significant changes in volume or peak, Waller asked.
No, the load does drop right off when the university and the schools stop, Millett said.
The system on average is at about half capacity, Waller noted.
In other business the board approved a license for Michael MacNeil to operate an adult use marijuana manufacturing facility at 535 Whittier Road.
The slot became available over the winter, MacNeil was on the waiting list, and it will make it possible for him to buy and sell manufactured product. As a grower, on the recreational side he can only sell to stores or manufacturers.
“If I do not sell it I’m stuck with it,” he said. “Right now I even have some inventory in my freezer from last year that if I had this license I could have manufactured, got back and marketed myself.” MacNeil said packaging is his only interest now, he doesn’t want a lab for extraction.
He said the license would let him buy and sell product in the wholesale market, nothing retail. For the packaging he plans to use a room in the barn on his property. On the property he has 19 cameras with capacity to hold information for 45 days.
When asked, MacNeil said this license is in addition to one he holds that he recently renewed. “The way these laws work, the more of these licenses you have the better you do.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
