LIVERMORE FALLS — The first phase of upgrading the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant is about 85% complete, according to the project manager.
“It is a long project,” engineer and Project Manager Jeff Preble of Wright-Pierce in Topsham said Friday. “We have to do things in sequence to keep the plant operating properly. We are about 85% complete on the project. The work on the initial phase should be done in July.”
The plant on Foundry Road serves sewer uses in Livermore Falls and Jay, who share the cost of operating and maintaining it based on the annual sewage flow from each town.
Engineering started in the spring of 2018 and the upgrade began in September 2022, Jay Sewer Department Superintendent Mark Holt said Monday.
The new primary clarifier was brought online recently. Workers were starting on a chlorine contact tank Monday. Treated wastewater goes through the tank in the summer to remove any bacteria before it is discharged into the Androscoggin River.
Additional equipment will be installed, including a new odor control system to replace a nonfunctional one. A new dewatering system will be put in place in 2025.
The work in 2025 will mostly be inside the plant, Preble said.
The cost for the initial phase is about $14.9 million and about $2.1 million for the second phase in 2025, Preble said.
Of the approximate $17 million total, $9.3 million will come from grants and $7.7 million from loans.
The towns are splitting the cost of the upgrade equally.
Livermore Falls sewer users pay for the Livermore Falls portion of the department and plant. Jay sewer users pay for their share of the operation and maintenance of the Sewer Department and plant, and debt service is paid through general taxation.
Holt is working on finding more grant money. If none is found, each town will be responsible for an estimated $240,000 a year over the next 20 years.
Foundry Road has been closed to all but local traffic for the three or four houses on the road.
There is a lot of activity going on, including construction, and a lot of equipment such as forklifts going back and forth on the road, Preble said. It and a walking path are expected to be reopened in late June, he said.
People can travel to the town’s Recreation Field on the road behind the Police Station and Town Office and turn around and go back the same way. Foundry Road is also a snowmobile trail, but that is closed as well for safety purposes.
Town Manager Carrie Castonguay is asking pedestrians and motorists to stay off the road in that area for safety purposes.
Livermore Falls owns and operates the plant, which was built in the 1970s. It underwent an $5.8 million partial upgrade in 1998, and some the concrete is approaching 50 years old.
The cost of the 1998 upgrade was shared with Livermore Falls paying 51% and Jay 49%, Holt said in 2008.
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