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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-03-21 Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Minutes Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Tuesday, March 21, 2006 Minutes Councilors Attending: Councilor D’Errico, Councilor Stone, Council Gratwick Staff Attending: Ed Barrett, Jim Ring, Brad Moore Others Attending: Committee convened at p.m. 1. Easement Request from Bangor Water District-Former Hammond Street Right of Way. With no discussion due to familiarity and dependability of the Water District, Councilor Stone moves to pass and Councilor D’Errico seconds the motion. Jim Ring stated the draft document stated a 50 foot wide easement request and since spoke with them and suggested a 30 foot wide easement. 2. Sewer Fee Surcharge – High Strength Discharges. Brad Moore states this issue has been addressed several times through the years. But now there is a probability of increasing the sewer rate fees during the next budget. Bangor Code allows surcharge to any entity that discharges excessive waste loads to the treatment plant. The Code defines excessive waste th loads and a formula to calculate. The March 16 Memorandum indicates two companies in the service area that do excessive discharge waste loads. The memo indicates the amount of revenue that could be generated if they were surcharged over and above the actual billed amount. The Council would have to pass an order what the fees would be. Jim Ring stated this has been discussed several times in what was the Sewer Committee, now Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. There was interest, but had not pursued. One thing noted: the company with that would be subject to the larger surcharge has made quite a bit of progress and they are aware this is something we’ve been considering for some time. If this was looked at a couple of years ago the surcharge would have been 50% rather than about a third of an increase. 1 Councilor Stone asked what is the difference between the two companies and why is there such a spread between the actual billed and the surcharge amount. And what was used as a benchmark for the excessive waste load. Brad Moore responds to the first question which is all based on the concentration of their waste load, the strength of the waste they’re discharging. The first company discharging a much stronger waste, thus taking more energy at the treatment plant to reduce the waste load. The benchmark of 350 milligrams per liter is an industry standard - i.e. the average coming from a residential household is 200 milligrams per liter. Some businesses in town may be affected by this if the numbers were to be lower, such as a laundry facility. More sampling will need to be done if the number were to be lowered. 14-15 companies are in the pre-treatment due to potential source of contamination to the sewer flow. Those companies are usually high water users that are involved in some kind of industrial process and are routinely checked and required to monitor waste, examples are restaurants, hospitals-a lot of facilities aren’t tested regularly. Those facilities take care of pre-treatment at the source. Upon further discussion of scenarios and possibly doing some sampling Ed Barrett suggests that this be brought back to the Committee along with the companies that would be impacted for a future date. Brad Moore explains for Councilor Gratwick that the 350 milligrams per liter is biochemical oxygen demand. What that measures is the demand of oxygen that the waste in the water places on the oxygen in the water. Anything that would take oxygen out of the water, would consume it in order to break down organic material, that is a measure of the waste load. Being a BOD test (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) which is a five day test. Brad also responds to Councilor Gratwick regarding a test for inorganic materials, which is COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand). The Committee requests the actual data on the companies that are currently in the pretreatment program. Other potential categories of sewer users that might exceed the standard household waste. Actual field testing on some of those facilities to see what the local situation is. Councilor Gratwick suggests having a TIC meeting at the WWTP, to go over the requested items in a month. 3. Executive Session – Contract Negotiations, Pine Tree Landfill Use of Wastewater Treatment Plant (1 M.R.S.A.§405(6)(E). With no discussion-Councilor Stone moves, Councilor D’Errico seconds the motion. Meeting Adjourned. 2