The Scituate Select Board approved a $3.5 million contract with Woodard & Curran for design and permitting of a new water treatment plant.
DPW Director Kevin Cafferty said a pilot study is expected to start over the next few weeks at the current treatment plant.
“Then we test the different types of filtration systems and we get a real-world feeling of what type of filtration system is going to work best, and get the cleanest water possible,” said Cafferty.
The design process will help the town decide between a facility at the current water treatment site, located just off the Route 3A rotary, and a 15-acre parcel at 443 Chief Justice Cushing Highway, next to Tack Mill Pond. Voters approved that $1.3 million purchase at the Annual Town Meeting.
The current water treatment plant was built in 1968.
“It would have an impact on brown water,” said Cafferty. “The plant that would be designed would be designed to treat and remove iron and manganese that we do have inherently in our water.”
A timeline of about 8 to 9 months is estimated for the pilot study. Woodard & Curran would then work on cost estimates for the two sites, and will recommend a site to move forward with.
“We’ll know what the cost should be. It’s kind of hard to tell what the cost would be right now because the cost of wood, the cost of metal, has just been going crazy,” said Cafferty. “We’ll be watching it, and hopefully the prices come down at that point and it can be done reasonably.”
