In September, Lowell, Mass., City Manager Bernie Lynch and his administration pushed the City Council for approval of close to $63 million in loan orders to bolster the city?s water and sewer infrastructure.

Lynch cast the investments as necessary to continue efforts to reduce sewage discharges into the Concord and Merrimack rivers, as required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as boost the work to improve the water enterprise fund operation.

?I hope the council will see the value of these improvements taking place over time,? Lynch told the council?s finance subcommittee. Lynch is seeking council approval of $40 million in borrowing for wastewater work.
Lynch and Wastewater Utility Executive Director Mark Young told councilors the EPA is pleased with Lowell?s combined-sewer-overflow project in recent years, but it wants more discharge-reduction work undertaken. Much of the sewer separation work is expected to take place in the Acre, Highlands and Belvidere neighborhoods. ?

A breakdown of the loan order indicated $13 million would go toward sewer separation. Combined sewer systems are sewers designed to collect rainwater, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same pipe. Other wastewater projects include a flood-pumping station expected to help reduce flood-insurance rates in the Lower Centralville neighborhood, replacement and rehabilitation of aging sewer lines, and the installation of centrifuges to reduce sludge-disposal costs at the wastewater treatment plant.

The sewer rate was already slated to increase by 27 percent between fiscal 2015 and 2020, and the proposed loan order would require an additional 13 percent increase, according to city officials. City Councilor Bill Martin said he believes the city has made considerable progress reducing its CSO discharges, but wondered if the city could take a more forceful tact with the EPA.

The officials highlighted that the current combined water and sewer bill for the average city ratepayer is $606, lower than many other cities in the state, including Cambridge, Springfield and Worcester.
Some information contained in this financial news update was taken from a news report appearing in the Lowell Sun.?

Lowell, Mass., City Manager Bernie Lynch and his administration made the case Tuesday night for the City Council approval for close to $63 million in loan orders to bolster the city’s water and sewer infrastructure.

Lynch cast the investments as necessary to continue efforts to reduce sewage discharges into the Concord and Merrimack rivers, as required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as boost the work to improve the water enterprise fund operation.

?I hope the council will see the value of these improvements taking place over time,? Lynch told the council’s finance subcommittee. Lynch is seeking council approval of $40 million in borrowing for wastewater work.

Lynch and Wastewater Utility Executive Director Mark Young told councilors the EPA is pleased with Lowell’s combined-sewer-overflow project in recent years, but it wants more discharge-reduction work undertaken. Much of the sewer separation work is expected to take place in the Acre, Highlands and Belvidere neighborhoods.?

A breakdown of the loan order indicated $13 million would go toward sewer separation. Combined sewer systems are sewers designed to collect rainwater, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same pipe.

Other wastewater projects include a flood-pumping station expected to help reduce flood-insurance rates in the Lower Centralville neighborhood, replacement and rehabilitation of aging sewer lines, and the installation of centrifuges to reduce sludge-disposal costs at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The sewer rate was already slated to increase by 27 percent between fiscal 2015 and 2020, and the proposed loan order would require an additional 13 percent increase, according to city officials.
City Councilor Bill Martin said he believes the city has made considerable progress reducing its CSO discharges, but wondered if the city could take a more forceful tact with the EPA.

?This is always their answer: Raise your rates, spend more money, do more work,? Martin said. ?Given the progress we have made, are we able to push back on this at all?? Both Lynch and Young said they would prefer to continue the collaborative effort the city has taken with the EPA.
?We are trying to continue the progress rather than taking on a confrontational approach with them that could result in more difficult measures being taken,? said Lynch.

Councilor Joseph Mendonca told The Sun he does not think the city has much choice about whether to move forward with the sewer projects because of the EPA mandate the work be done. Lynch is also seeking $22.8 million in borrowing for water projects. A backup treated water transmission main would cost $8.7 million and would be the second phase of redundancy improvements.

Water Utility Executive Director Dan Lahiff said the Utility would like to spend $10.2 million replacing residential water meters. The new meters could be automatically read and bring in more revenue for the city, he said. The utility is also proposing improvements to its removal of sludge from its handling lagoons, and funding for required improvements at the Christian Hill Reservoir Dam. No increase in water rates would be required to fund the borrowing.

Lynch told the council the city may consider lowering water rates for a time so that while the sewer rates are rising, city residents would not be hit as hard. City officials believe they can keep the combined sewer/water bill increase from fiscal 2015 to fiscal 2020 to $165.

The officials highlighted that the current combined water and sewer bill for the average city ratepayer is $606, lower than many other cities in the state, including Cambridge, Springfield and Worcester.

The council’s finance subcommittee — which in addition to Martin and Mendonca includes Councilor Rodney Elliott — voted 3-0 to recommend the proposed loan orders be sent to a public hearing. Since the hearing has yet to occur, the council did not make any recommendation on how the full body should vote on the requested loan orders. A public hearing for the loan orders is expected to be Oct. 1, said Lynch.

Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_24011692/plan-63m-loan-orders-floated-lowell-sewer-water#ixzz2ePTzGcbR.

The information contained in this news update was taken from an article by Lyle Moran, lmoran@lowellsun.com, appearing in the Lowell Sun.