Published in the December 31, 2020 edition.

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The town of Wakefield might be providing supplemental water to the Lynnfield Center Water District (LCWD) down the road.

After two years of study, LCWD Superintendent John Scenna said during a recent informational meeting on Zoom teleconference that consultant CDM Smith is recommending between $9 million and $9.5 million in capital improvements in order to address the district’s water quality and quantity issues. The projects involve upgrading the LCWD’s existing infrastructure as well as getting supplemental water from the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA) via Wakefield.

“These projects will diversify our water sources,” said Scenna. “It is going to ease restrictions, will allow for future growth and will provide consistency in the water.”

CDM Smith project engineer/manager Mike Nelson recommends that the LCWD receive supplemental water from the MWRA via Wakefield, which will cost between $1.2 million and $1.5 million. He said the cost to join the MWRA is $1.6 million, which could be spread out over 20 years. He also said the MWRA’s permitting costs range between $250,000 and $350,000.

The supplemental water project involves connecting the two systems at Main Street and Bay State Road.

“This is an ideal spot to put an interconnected vault,” said Nelson. “Wakefield has no issues with that vault being underground and we can drop electrical service right off a pole. It is a favorable spot. We also did some modeling, and found that the hydraulics is favorable. In order to pull 25 percent of the district’s demand through Wakefield did not require any pumping. We may have to upsize some mains in the district, but not having to pump that water is a huge cost savings.”

Nelson said the project would benefit Wakefield as well as the LCWD.

“Wakefield has a fire flow distribution issue,” said Nelson. “The solution is to create a loop for Wakefield through Lynnfield that would allow them to loop their system. It would alleviate a large problem for them.”

Scenna said getting supplemental water from the MWRA will benefit the LCWD over the long-term.

“It will help regulate pressure throughout the system and will help maintain fire suppression throughout the system,” said Scenna. “It will also reduce restrictions in the summer.”

Nelson said the LCWD also explored the possibility of getting supplemental water from the MWRA via the Lynnfield Water District (LWD) as well as Peabody and Andover via North Reading. He said CDM Smith recommended against those options because of logistical issues and they were more expensive than the Wakefield proposal.

Scenna noted that the Wakefield plan costs $1 million less than the other three proposals. He said getting all of the LCWD’s water from the MWRA is too expensive and doing nothing is not feasible.

“We have to move forward,” said Scenna. “We can’t do nothing, but at the same time, it’s not fiscally responsible to shut everything down and go to the MWRA.”

In order to address the discolored water problems ratepayers living near the North Reading line have experienced, Nelson recommended that ratepayers approve building a $6 million greensand filter treatment plant at the Glen Drive station in order to treat iron and manganese. The project also includes making improvements to the district’s Main Street station.

“I can sit here and say this will work because there has been a water treatment plant at Phillips Road for the better part of two decades,” said Nelson. “The water that comes out of Phillips Road and fills the Knoll Road tank is clear. It does not have the same problems that the water at Glen Drive has. It is proven technology.”

Scenna said the LCWD Board of Water Commissioners will be discussing the project’s financial impact on ratepayers during a January meeting.