When the City of Leominster, MA entered into an Administrative Consent Order with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection relating to their water system, it was clear that significant upgrades were necessary at several of the City’s water treatment facilities. In addition to assisting the City in negotiating more favorable terms under the Consent Order, Woodard & Curran was instrumental in developing a compliance plan and helping the City implement the necessary improvements.
Since 1992, the City had been operating one of its primary surface water supplies under a filtration waiver that allowed chlorination as the only form of treatment. The Consent Order eliminated this waiver, requiring a new filtration facility, and additional unit treatment processes at another of the City’s main surface water supplies, to be constructed. Our team helped to negotiate the terms of the Administrative Consent Order and guided the City in successfully satisfying 32 individual requirements set forth in the Order.
A MULTIFACETED APPROACH TO SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS
We were hired by the City as the Owner’s Project Manager to advocate for and protect the City’s interests during the design, construction, and post-construction phases for the new filtration facility. Our project team was responsible for conducting all preliminary work, including evaluating alternatives, pilot testing the recommended alternative, permitting, and developing the conceptual design. Serving as the design engineer for the major treatment process addition at a second surface water supply, which was also required under the Consent Order, we worked directly with the City’s selected D/B construction firm to design, permit, and provide engineering services during construction of a new clarification process and chemical feed upgrades at the City’s existing direct filtration plant.
The work required close collaboration with City Administrators, the Department of Public Works, the contracted D/B firm and between consultants. Each individual project included an alternatives evaluation aimed at determining the most cost effective, operator friendly and energy efficient solutions possible. Over the course of five years, Woodard & Curran was instrumental in the successful completion of numerous water system upgrades that will help ensure regulatory compliance for many years to come.
