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Milford approves chlorine scrubber purchase and Well 3R rehabilitation, citing operating savings and necessary liner work
Summary
Council authorized a $75,000 purchase of a chlorine scrubber at the Tenth Street Water Treatment Plant and approved $77,720 to rehabilitate Well 3R after inspection found casing deterioration.
The Milford City Council on April 28 authorized two water-system expenditures intended to improve operations and reliability.
Chlorine scrubber: Public works staff presented a proposal to replace manual chlorine-tablet dosing at the Tenth Street Water Treatment Plant with a chlorine-gas system and scrubber unit. Staff said current tablet dosing costs about $24,000 per year at that station; the estimated annual cost using gas is roughly $7,000 per year, and the one-time purchase price for the first scrubber is $75,000. Staff and council discussed payback; using the figures presented, the annual operating-cost differential implies a payback of roughly 4.4 years. One council member later recalled a previously discussed 10-year figure; staff said they would confirm life-expectancy and payback assumptions as part of procurement and installation planning. The purchase was authorized as a sole-source acquisition and passed 8-0.
Well 3R rehabilitation: Staff reported Well 3R (put into operation in 2016, about 245 feet deep and producing about 175 gallons per minute) required redevelopment and, during inspection, the outer casing was found to be deteriorated and in need of relining. The redevelopment work was budgeted at $42,000 in the FY25 CIP; staff requested an additional $35,000 from the O&M budget to line the outer casing, bringing the total to $77,720. Council authorized the expenditure, 8-0. Staff said redevelopment of pumps and cleaning is typically expected every 10 years, but relining was recommended now due to observed casing deterioration.
Both actions require coordination with the Office of Drinking Water for testing and with other city wells during switchover operations. Staff said the system’s interconnectivity allows other wells to supply water while a facility is temporarily taken offline for installation or testing.
Next steps: place the purchase order for the scrubber, schedule installation and testing with the Office of Drinking Water, and execute the Well 3R rehabilitation change order.
