Map outlining the first phase of Mashpee’s wastewater plan. Town of Mashpee
MASHPEE – Mashpee’s Interim Town Engineer Raymond Jack presented an update on plans for the town’s Wastewater Project at a recent select board meeting.
At the June 27 meeting, Jack went into details on how the Water Resource Recovery Facility will function, including an explanation on how wastewater plants are biological reactors.
“They rely on microbiology in order to break down the solids that are in the wastewater,” he said.
Jack explained the sludge that will get recirculated into the plant would undergo an activation process as part of breaking it down.
Jack said the plant will use Membrane Biological Reactor tanks during the treatment process, adding that cold New England winters are an important factor when deciding what type of plant technology to use.
“This is a living thing. It doesn’t like cold winters, so you need processes that are capable of being able to withstand that properly. This is one of the better processes for that,” he said.
The discussion later covered capacity limitations of treatment at the plant and discharge of the infiltration basins, where the treated water ends up.
Board Chair Andrew Gottlieb said the higher that the town treats the quality of water to, means more of it can be put at the site.
“There’s a balance between investing a little bit more in the treatment process and being able to put more here, versus the cost of having to go someplace else,” Gottlieb said.
“Treating it’s easy, getting rid of it is hard,” he added.
Jack presented a bidding milestone schedule for general contractors and subcontractors to make bids on the WRRF project.
Dates for bidding on the two collection systems were also included. The two systems, north and south, would use gravity main systems to transport wastewater.
Bid openings are scheduled for different dates from late July to mid-August. The contract execution date for all the projects is September 30.
Jack said one contractor could potentially fulfill all three contracts, adding the collection systems could be a better fit for the town if they were fulfilled by one contractor.
Board Clerk John Cotton asked if the different parts of the project will be capable of being expanded upon as time goes on.
Jack answered that mostly everything except the sludge was designed for that, which he stated can take up a lot of tankage and become costly.
By Brian Engles, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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