$6 Million Wastewater Bond FTM is Tuesday

A $6 million bond to make major repairs and upgrades at the town’s wastewater treatment facility is the subject of a Tuesday Financial Town Meeting in East Greenwich.

Taxpayers are urged to come to East Greenwich High School at 6:30 p.m. to vote to authorize the bond. Town officials say the plant, which processes town wastewater before discharging it into Greenwich Cove, is in serious need of repairs.

The concern is that without the repairs, the quality of the water in the cove will degrade and the town will not be able to meet mandated environmental standards, which could prove costly in terms of both dollars and the impact on the health of the cove.

The town tried to make improvements to decrease the amount of nitrogen released into the cove with a series of improvements during the spring and summer of this year, but the results were “marginal,” according to a Town Council statement.

The primary focus of the repairs is the large rotating drums that process solid waste, known as rotating biological contactors, or RBCs.

Unless the town replaces the RBCs, which are at the end of their useful lives, the town could face fines upwards of $25,000 per day after receiving violations from the state Department of Environmental Management, which regulates wastewater treatment plants.

The town hired a contractor, Tighe & Bond, to analyze the facility and they concluded that the bulk of the treatment deficiencies at the plant revolve around the aged RBCs, which were installed in 1989.

The RBCs have been repaired repeatedly over the years, which have extended their lives and prevented the issuance of bonds, but town officials said that Band-Aids and small repairs will no longer delay the inevitable: the RBCs need to be replaced.

The bonds will be issued through the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, which will enable East Greenwich to borrow at a discounted interest rate of 2.47 percent. That’s a 33 percent discount off the town’s projected market rate of 3.75 percent.

The town will pay for the bonds through sewer usage fees, which means the repair project will not result in property tax increases or a change to the towns general budget.

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