Communities Compete For Stimulus Funding for Drinking Water and Clean Water Projects

(nat sound loud gushing water)
Inside Portsmouth’s water treatment plant in Madbury, water is getting pushed through a large sand filter.
The water – coming from the Bellamy River reservoir- is the color of tea.

Allen1 “That’s what we have trouble getting rid of in the current system that color and that turbidity”

That’s David Allen with Portsmouth’s Public Works Department.
He says the murkiness is caused by tiny particles of dirt and organic material in the water.
Too much of it can interfere with the disinfection process,
And that can lead to an increased risk of viruses and bacteria.
Allen worries the 60 year old plant can’t keep up with stricter drinking water standards.

Allen2 “99-percent of the time we meet it, but there are times when there’s a change of season when the water quality changes that this plant may not be able to meet it”

Portsmouth plans to build a new 20-million dollar water treatment plant to help solve the problem.

“Allen3 Conveniently for us at the same time the stimulus money was coming we were really one of those projects that just hit the timing right where we are shovel-ready we’ve gone out to bid we have a contractor”

The Department of Environmental Services ranked the plant fifth among 265 drinking water projects submitted.

If approved, it’s eligible for five million dollars in stimulus money.
Portsmouth also ranked number one for another project..
(nat sound)
Engineers on state street in Portsmouth lower a camera down a manhole.
They’re looking for underground pipes, so they can eventually separate the sewer system from the stormwater system.
During heavy rains the combined system can overflow and dump not only stormwater, but untreated wastewater directly into nearby rivers and streams.
Portsmouth asked for more than 13-million dollars in stimulus money for separation projects around the city.
But if approved Portsmouth will receive only 2-point-two million dollars for improvements along State Street.
(nat sound water)
Portsmouth’s wastewater treatment plant has an even worse problem.
(nat sound)
Here, wastewater discharges into the fast moving Piscataqua River which flows into the ocean.
Water goes through only a primary treatment at the plant.
The EPA says the plant is now violating clean water laws and has ordered the city to improve it.
Portsmouth Public Works Director David Allen says the city has three years to find the best solution.
They asked for 57-million dollars in stimulus money for the upgrade …

allen4 (the thought was, let’s just let them know we’re coming, let them know we’ve got projects that are out there.)

But the project wasn’t among the 30 wastewater projects on the proposed list.
Allen admits the upgrade isn’t even close to being shovel-ready.
And DES Water Division Director Harry Stewart says that’s one of the key priorities.

Stewart1 “Readiness to proceed is a significant factor, so a project that’s ready to go in 90 days, another factor is environmental benefit for clean water or public health for drinking water.

The risk to public health in the drinking water in Hillsborough helped it get ranked number 6, just below Portsmouth’s.

(Clicking noise under)
Keith Gilbert is Hillsborough’s Water Systems Operator.
126 keith1 “the feed pumps you hear clicking away are the feeding the chemical out to the system, this is where the bulk of the problem lies, we can’t control this finely enough.”
The water treatment plant’s biggest problem is it’s creating what are called “disinfection by-products.”
Namely, trihalomethanes and Haloacetic acids – DES says they’re suspected carcinogens.
Gilbert says while there’s only a small risk, the town has had to post public notices because the water is out of compliance.

"part of the reason Hillsborough is not seeing fines now is because they have been working diligently to correct the problems."

Hillsborough has spent more than a million dollars trying to fix it.
The plant was originally designed for future population growth so it can treat a million gallons of water a day.
But right now, says Gilbert, it’s treating only 300-thousand.

'the result of that is that everything is oversized so we’re flowing water through 12 inch pipes and trying to measure that flow and we’re outside the accuracy range of the flow meters because we’re flowing so little water.'

Hillsborough asked for 265-thousand dollars in stimulus money for the upgrade.

122 7:35 doug1 “Anything that’s given to us will be a huge help”

That’s Doug Parker, one of Hillsborough’s Water and Sewer Commissioners.

Doug2 “we fit all the criteria at this point if stimulus money doesn’t come the town of Hillsborough will have to foot the bill for all of it, it needs to be done.”

Hillsborough’s water treatment upgrade ranked 8th on the proposed list.
And Hillsborough, like Portsmouth, also has problems at its wastewater plant.
Right now Hillsborough can’t add any more connections to its sewer system because it’s already at capacity.
And says Commissioner Parker that’s hindering development.

Doug3 13:06 its fairly urgent, we’ve had companies that want to come in, housing developments senior housing trying to get into town but lots of times the wastewater or sewer discharge is a stumbling block.

BUZZ…

WHAT IS THAT NOISE doug4 ( that would actually be part of an upgrade they would take the blowers out of this building and build a separate building in a different part and get the blowers out)

The blowers are used as for the plant’s aeration treatment.
Hillsborough requested more than a million dollars for that project, it’s ranked tenth, for the full amount.

DES’s Harry Stewart says half of every project’s stimulus money will be in the form of a grant –the rest will have to come from state water loans.
That allows the state to fund more projects.

“7:30 for example if we took the 37 million dollars in clean water funds that are available in stimulus and used 37 million dollars in loan money, we could get 74 million dollars in projects done across the state and spread the money over more communities.”

Those loans come at a low interest rate, but many towns may not be able to take on that debt.
Stewart hopes that won’t be the case.
A public hearing is scheduled for April 3rd to explain the ranking system and get public comment.
The department hopes to have the projects that do get stimulus money approved through the Executive Council and the Governor by May.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.