Special Board of Aldermen 06-21-2021 Page 41
Mayor Donchess
Mr. Boucher is here. Now he hasn't been here the entire 6 years so Ms. Fauteux will come up as well.
Mr. Teeboom Well | hope he knows how to spell CSO.
Mayor Donchess
He does, he knows how to spell it, he wishes he didn’t but he does.
Mr. Teeboom So the question is when the 6 year average for Fiscal ’16 to Fiscal 22 was a 6.9% over six
years. Why is it suddenly (inaudible) to go a long time. She’s been gone for decades, why is now 38.7%.
Dave Boucher, Waste Water Superintendent
We have had studies done throughout the facility. Like the Mayor said, we are heavily regulated by the
EPA and the State. We do have a consent decree. We have a permit to discharge into the river. We have
permits for air, permits for sludge, all these things, more regulations are coming down to us. PFAS or
polyfluoroalkyl substances, it’s a big concern. For the Waste Water Facility we have a management
company that takes care of our sludge, it’s a byproduct of the waste water. So the concern is right now we
have beneficial reuse of our sludge, it goes to farmlands; that might not be an option in the near future. So
we are looking at different ways of treating our sludge. Some other things we have to look at it in our
permit that is currently in a draft form for phosphorous for instance. If we have to meet the limits that the
EPA is imposing on us it is going to be an additional build on to the Waste Water Facility to meet those
regulations. Plus we have, the facility dates back to the ‘50’s there are still parts of the facility are aged. All
the waste water that comes to the facility is corrosive.
Mr. Teeboom | am still looking for a specific answer. Maybe the Director can answer.
Mr. Boucher
Right. So part of our study some of these things come out, unfortunately they come out all at once. So we
are trying to prepare for all these regulations that are coming down and still maintain our process to meet
our current permit.
Mr. Teeboom It’s up by almost $8 million dollars this year. The average in previous years | mean like $1.4
million. So what made it go up.
Director Fauteux
We did a very extensive presentation to the Board of Aldermen that explained in great detail all of the
projects that we are working on including our COGEN Project that is almost completed. We have
embarked on our pump station upgrade, we’ve already done half of the pump stations, we are now doing
the other half of the pump stations. We had primary tank upgrades. There’s a number of projects that we
have done and will be doing in the near future to contribute to the increase. And the vast majority of that is
permit. There are things that are required by the EPA.
Mr. Teeboom But typically you bond these big projects.
Director Fauteux
Yes.
