Amherst secures $15M loan to rebuild Centennial water treatment plant in Pelham

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 04-12-2023 7:20 PM

AMHERST — A $15 million low-interest loan will be provided to Amherst by the state’s Clean Water Trust so the town can move forward with rebuilding the Centennial water treatment plant in Pelham.

Trustees for the Clean Water Trust last week announced $37.97 million in new low-interest loans and grants from the State Revolving Fund program, including the 1.5% interest rate loan for Amherst.

Amherst expects to spend $21.5 million to modernize and renovate the plant that gets its drinking water from the Hills and Hawley reservoirs in Pelham. Over the winter, the town received a low bid of $18.87 million from R.H. White Construction Co. Inc. of Auburn to do the work, with the other costs associated with the project including engineering and contingencies.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman said his understanding is that the remaining costs will be covered through a subsequent loan from the state.

When complete in 12 to 18 months, the long-planned project will provide up to 1 million gallons per day of treated water to Amherst’s drinking water system. The plant is expected to use new filtration technology known as dissolved air flotation, improving operations by reducing the amount of disinfection byproducts from the current water treatment process, as well as cutting energy use.

The water treatment plant has been offline in recent years, with the town’s primary water sources the Atkins Reservoir in Shutesbury, with its water going to a treatment plant in the Cushman section of Amherst; and wells in the Lawrence Swamp in South Amherst.

There will be an adjustment of water rates to cover the associated costs. Those are expected to be brought forward to the Town Council this spring.

Aside from Amherst, the other communities in western Massachusetts awarded money by the Clean Water Trust were related to the lead service line planning program, with Ware getting a $200,000 grant and East Longmeadow a $161,700 grant.

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