Project Overview
Plainville’s Turnpike Lake Water Treatment Plant has served the Town for many years; however, during peak periods, the plant exceeds its capacity to deliver the volume of water that the Towns recent growth demands. This has led to excessive wear and tear on the plant’s pumps and filtering equipment. Continued Operation of the treatment plant beyond its designed capacity can also impact water quality, increase downtime, and add significant cost in repairs.
Additionally, the existing water treatment plant does not have the treatment and filtering technologies needed to address the current and evolving per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) regulatory compliance at the state and federal level. PFAS are widely used, long lasting chemicals, components of which break down very slowly over time. Scientific studies have shown that exposure to some PFAS in the environment may be linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals. To learn more about the impact of PFAS in Plainville’s water, visit: https://www.plainville.ma.us/197/PFAS-per--and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances.
The Town of Plainville procured the services of a specialized engineering firm to perform a feasibility study with the goal of determining the options available to improve and expand the water treatment system. From this study it was determined that a new water treatment plant would be the most advantageous and cost-effective approach to provide clean and safe drinking water for Plainville consumers for generations to come.
The Town intends to replace the Turnpike Lake Water Treatment Plant with a larger water treatment plant to better serve the community by increasing capacity, positioning for potential need to treat emerging contaminants, and provide needed redundancy. The newly designed plant will be able to provide nearly double the volume of the current plants' capacity and will include the latest technology to filter the PFAS contaminants to meet state and federal regulations. Features of the new plant will include state-of-the-art water pumping, filtration and treatment systems and will employ the latest technology in treatment processes for disinfection and corrosion control.