At their meeting on the evening of May 28, the Acton Water District (AWD) Board of Commissioners set a Special District Meeting to ask voters to authorize additional borrowing, beyond what was previously appropriated, to design and install PFAS treatment infrastructure and bedrock wells at the Central Acton Water Treatment Facility.
The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 13, at 6 p.m., at the Acton Water District (AWD) Headquarters, 693 Massachusetts Avenue. The Warrant comprises a single article, the gist of which is: “To see if the District will vote to appropriate an additional $2,532,000 to supplement the appropriation … from the Annual Meeting of March 15, 2023 for costs associated with the construction of bedrock wells at 549 Main Street and … construction of modifications to the permanent infrastructure at the Central Acton Treatment Plant to accommodate installation of a PFAS treatment system; [and] to determine whether this amount shall be raised by borrowing…” The additional borrowing would be from the Clean Water Trust, which offers lower interest rates than the commercial market, and has the possibility of partial loan forgiveness after the project is completed.
As previously reported by the Acton Exchange, sophisticated and expensive treatment is required to remove PFAS chemicals (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) to protect the health of Acton water-takers and to keep the District in compliance with existing Massachusetts and new federal water quality standards. The bedrock wells are intended to diversify Acton’s water supply away from 100% dependence on shallow aquifers, and thus increase the town’s resilience to drought and potential emerging contaminants.
As discussed in detail by the AWD Finance Committee (FinCom) at their meeting on the morning of May 28, the District received two bids for the Central Acton work. The bids were close, and the low bid came in at $10,345,499, as contrasted with the sum of $7,820,000, which voters had authorized through Articles 17 and 20 at the 2023 District Annual Meeting. Reasons discussed for the high cost include pandemic-related inflation, and competition for specialized labor and materials as water-suppliers across the Commonwealth and the nation strive to meet new state and federal PFAS standards. The infusion of federal funding for water infrastructure through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has resulted in what District Manager Matt Mostoller described as a “contractor’s market” for PFAS treatment design and construction projects. After lively discussion, FinCom voted unanimously to recommend that the Commissioners hold a District Special Meeting to request the additional borrowing authorization, with the proviso that the voters be provided with sufficient background information to cast an informed vote.
In other news from the May 28 AWD meetings, AWD FinCom member John Petersen was elected to Chair the Committee for the coming year. In his two years on FinCom, Petersen has been a vocal proponent of providing clear and ample information to the voters before and during District Annual Meetings and District Special Meetings.
And finally, District Manager Matt Mostoller announced that the newly completed PFAS treatment system at the North Acton Water Treatment Plant is now producing water which has tested as “non-detect” for PFAS. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection will be inspecting the new system on May 31, and treated water is expected to be flowing to Acton water-takers shortly thereafter. The North Acton plant has a capacity of 0.5 million gallons per day, a bit more than a third of Acton’s historical average consumption.
Kim Kastens is a volunteer writer, editor and Board member for the Acton Exchange. In addition, she chairs the Water Committee for Green Acton.
UPDATE: June 5, 2024: In an email dated June 3, AWD Environmental Compliance Manager Alexandra Wahlstrom shared the news that “the North Acton Water Treatment Plant (NAWTP) began supplying water with PFAS at non-detectable levels to our customers on June 1, 2024!”
UPDATE: June 5, 204: Following discussion at the Board of Commissioners meeting on June 3, the AWD posted additional information on their website about the borrowing authorization to be requested at the June 13 Special District Meeting, notably about the anticipated impact of the additional borrowing on the debt fee. In FY24, the debt fee will be $277.50 per unit per year ($69.50 per quarterly billing period). This is forecast to increase to $358.09 for FY26 if the June 13 warrant article passes ($89.52 per quarter). However, most of this increase is due to already-authorized borrowing (blue in graph), with a smaller increment due to the supplemental borrowing being requested at the Special District Meeting (red in graph).
