Hampstead advances centralized PFAS treatment project, seeks $19.5 million in state/federal funding

Town of Hampstead staff said work on a multi-site project to centralize and modernize the town’s water-treatment system — including removal of PFAS from the drinking water supply — is under state review and could go to bid in late April or early May.

Town staff said the project team has drafted an application seeking $19,500,000 in funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of the Environment and that the town recently received a subrecipient grant agreement from MDE. The town’s signatory on that grant agreement is required before the Board of Public Works will consider financing approval, officials said.

The project is being packaged as multiple contracts so the town can meet an EPA timeline. “The reason we're breaking it into two contracts is simply because we've got to meet a certain EPA timeline and if we did it with one contractor we would not be able to do that,” Town staff member Jim said during the council meeting.

Officials described two broad bid packages: one covering expansions at existing facilities and a second covering construction of new treatment plants. Town staff said final plans and specifications for the water treatment plants remain under review with MDE and that the final site plan was introduced at the March meeting of the Hampstead Plan and Zoning Commission and is under review by Carroll County Development Review.

The town also reported external recognition tied to the PFAS work. Town staff said the Maryland Rural Water Association presented Hampstead with its Water System of the Year award and that the town’s application seeks roughly $19.5 million in combined EPA and MDE funding to support the work. “It was a huge group effort to get this far,” a town staff member said.

What happens next: after MDE approves the plans and specifications, the town expects to advertise the bid packages for the treatment-plant construction contracts and separate bid packages for water-main construction and water-main inspection services. Those bid packages will go to the Board of Public Works for final financing approval before the town can issue a notice to proceed to pipeline and plant contractors.

Officials cautioned the schedule depends on state reviews and BPW financing approval; the project team estimated construction and related work would take about two years to complete once underway, according to background remarks at a later agenda item.

Discussion versus decision: council members did not take a formal vote on the project at the meeting; the council heard staff updates, accepted reports, and approved related routine items. No contract awards or financing approvals were decided at the meeting.