The relative importance of this project is to reduce the concentrations of iron and manganese from the Conant No. 1 and No. 2 sources. The Acton Water District would be unable to meet their projected maximum day demand without these sources, and these sources have been consistently exceeding the SMCL and ORSGL for manganese. The construction of the new water treatment plant will fix the noted problems to ensure public health, safety, and reliability of the water supply.
May 2021 Aerial Drone Video https://youtu.be/2aE4DXPC77U
December 2020 Aerial Drone Video 2 https://youtu.be/RrbzlI04Kxo
December 2020 Aerial drone Video https://youtu.be/2hA_bfuGGrk
November 2020 Aerial drone Video https://youtu.be/sqbvhvyEOWk
September 2020 Aerial Drone Video https://youtu.be/uT8eeUujIyw
August 2020 Aerial Drone Video https://youtu.be/6BmqFj-KJbw
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A rendering of the plant can be seen below
July 28, 2020
The District breaks ground on the Central Acton Treatment Plant
After five years of planning, the District and its contractor, Waterline Industries out of Seabrook, NH, has broken ground on the Central Acton Water Treatment Plant (CAWTP). This One Million-gallon per-Day (MGD) plant will filter iron and manganese from the raw water supplies of the Conant I & II wells. Additionally, the future hope is that an ongoing investigation for a bedrock source on an abutting parcel will also contribute water to the plant. The project began back in 2015 when state regulators requested a Written Corrective Acton Plan (WCAP) from the District for the manganese concentrations in the Conant I source. During the course of the study completed by the District’s engineering consultant, Wright-Pierce Engineers, it was decided that since Conant II has similar water quality, and is in relatively close proximity, it would be included in the scope. The two sources combined have a regulatory withdrawal limit of 628,000-gallons-per-day (.628 MGD). The additional volume in the plant’s capacity is reserved for the future bedrock source.
The construction project is expected to take 14-18 months, and commissioning of the facility is anticipated in late 2021. Along with this, the District is re-purposing infrastructure that was retired in place back in 2008 on Main Street/Rt 27 to act as a transmission line from the Conant I source to the plant site at 8 Post Office Square-Behind. Aquapipe™, the relining technology used recently in Indian Village, will be employed to renew the existing 6” & 8” pipes on Main Street. Some additional pipe installation on Post Office Square and Main Street will be needed to support the increased flow from the new plant into the piping distribution system.
In 2019, the District was approved for low interest loan through the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust through the State Revolving Fund (SRF) program. The 20-year loan will have an interest rate of 1.5% and will provide significant savings to the ratepayers due to this. Further, the construction loan for the project is a 0% short-term loan. The permanent financing is expected to impact the Debt Fee in 2022. The cost of the overall project is approved for $12.4 million.
We are very excited to be undertaking this extremely important project to improve the drinking water quality for the District’s current and future water takers. Upon completion, about 85% of the source of supply will be fully filtered.
Please check back here periodically for updates on the project. Thank you for your support of this important project!
Chris Allen
District Manager
