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Town holds public hearing on wastewater facility plan amendment after 2024 high flows; amendment adds bypass pipe and modest cost
Summary
A facility plan amendment for Westerly’s wastewater treatment plant was presented and published as required; the amendment responds to extreme high flows recorded in 2024 and includes a bypass from headworks to aeration tanks, an engineering change estimated at under $2 million.
The Westerly Town Council opened a public hearing April 7 to advertise a required facility plan amendment for the town’s wastewater treatment facility.
Edwin Castillo, a Jacobs consultant working on the project, told the council the amendment responds to unusually high flows the plant experienced in March 2024 and revises the plant’s approach to flood resiliency and hydraulic capacity. The town entered a consent agreement with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) in December 2021 and earlier facility plan work was approved by DEM on March 11, 2024; the amendment reevaluates design modifications after extreme flows were observed.
Castillo said the amendment adds a bypass pipe routing flow from the headworks directly to the aeration tanks to address hydraulic limits in primary treatment. He estimated the change as a “minor” cost addition — “less than $2,000,000” — and described the bypass as a lower-cost option to prevent overloading units that lacked capacity during the high-flow event.
Per procedure, the town made the draft facility plan amendment available at the planning department for public review and held the advertised hearing at council chambers. The council opened the public hearing; no public commenters spoke at the meeting and councilors moved to close the hearing. The hearing and advertisement were part of the state-required review process; the council did not vote on construction contracts at the meeting.
