Present at the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA) connection informational forum were the members of the Board of Public Works, MWRA Commissioner Maureen Rizzi, Kleinfelder Engineering Owners Project Manager Kirsten Ryan, Abrahams Group (Financing) Matt Abrahams, Don Millette water superintendent, Joe Doucette DPW superintendent, and Tom Holder DPW Director.
Key Takeaways
The BoPW and DPW staff wanted the residents to understand that, if Wayland intends to pump any potable drinking water that is PFAS free after April 2029, Town meeting needs to approve the $1.23 million in remaining design funds of the original request in the fiscal year 2026 budget.
After four years of evaluation of alternatives, the Board of Public Works recommends a dual source water supply comprised of water treated at a new permanent Happy Hollow plant using a “Granular Activated Carbon” treatment facility and any remaining water purchased from the MWRA as needed.
Temporary Connection
The 2024 emergency connection to the Hultman Aqueduct was temporarily granted by the MWRA and will be disconnected. The Hultman Aqueduct is a part of MWRA’s overall system redundancy and is taken periodically offline for maintenance. The 2021 building and treatment system at the Happy Hollow wells were designed for temporary use. Also while the current ETC2 ion exchange resin system was designed for 900 gallon per minute flow it has been pumping at 500 gal/min. Happy Hollow alone is currently permitted for 1.41 million gallons per day and pumping on an annual average less than 1.0 MGD.
Project design fees require separate approval votes from the construction costs. The Finance Committee recently changed the town’s financial policy to prevent repeated returns for more funding to finish projects that were significantly delayed or modified as they languished.
The MWRA connection preliminary (30%) design funds will be funded from use of $1 million from water rates (2024 ATM article 4) and $1 million taken from March of 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding of $4.1 million. To complete the multi-year project design and permitting, another 1.23 million by borrowing is needed. Total design cost is $3.23 million.
Project Cost
Kleinfelder has projected a base cost of $22 million to build the MWRA connection after taking the $7 million limited time waiver on the MWRA entrance fee. The cost to build and connect a new larger Happy Hollow treatment plant sited outside the flood plain is estimated to be $13 million for a total construction cost of $35 million. There are State Revolving funds with zero interest rates available through the Clean Water Act and Federal water improvement grants possible.
