BRUNSWICK
Despite a dearth of public participation, the Brunswick Sewer District went ahead Wednesday with a planned informational session on wide-ranging upgrades and improvements to the town’s waste water treatment facilities.
The first of two phases would increase district efficiency, lower operational costs and address changes to treatment processes since the last upgrade was performed in 1991.
Estimated to cost about $22 million for construction and interest paid on the borrowed funds, the upgrade process is tentatively scheduled to go out to bid in 2015.
Construction and renovation is expected to be completed sometime late in 2017.
A second phase, to address quality of the treated effluent that eventually is released into the Androscoggin River, isn’t expected to be undertaken until 2023, according to district Assistant General Manager Rob Pontau.
Brunswick and Topsham share a water district, while the Brunswick Sewer District treats some waste water from Topsham and Brunswick Landing, as well.
Depending on when the project goes out to bid — and what the final project plan’s refined costs are expected to be — the district is expected to raise its rates a little bit at a time, over several years, to pay for the upgrades.
The average household in Brunswick produces about 2,000 cubic feet of wastewater each quarter, or 8,000 cubic feet annually, at a current cost of $375 per year. After the upgrades, the annual household cost is projected to increase by $153, to a yearly expense of $528, or about $44 per month.
Despite the uptick, Thomas Green, the district’s treasurer, called it a bargain when viewed in the same context as other utilities.
“Brunswick Sewer District allows Brunswick to exist,” Green said. “At $44 a month, it’s a heck of a bargain. It may not be as much fun as a fancy cell phone, but it allows us to exist.”
The conference room at 10 Pine Tree Road, the district’s administrative headquarters, was conspicuously spare of the general public during Wednesday’s presentation: Many of the people Sewer District trustees expected to see were across town at a presentation pertaining to a controversial charter school proposed for Brunswick Landing.
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