Town to dismantle treatment plant

Photo: Peter McGuire

SLUDGE — A view of the Robinson Mill waste water treatment plant. The town plans to dismantle the treatment facility, which has been unused for at least three years. The town plans to start the deconstruction by emptying the water from the main 300,000-gallon tank, seen here, then breaking down and removing the tank from the site.  

OXFORD — The town will soon begin to dismantle the Robinson Mill waste water treatment facility, which has not been in use since 2009. 

"Quite frankly, we don't want several hundred thousand gallons of fluid and effluent sitting there untreated," said Oxford Town Manager Michael Chammings.

The town took over ownership of the facility in 2009, and since then, it has been waiting for the results of a sewage treatment plant feasibility study.

Town Manager Michael Chammings says that the first step is to empty out the water from the main 300,000-gallon tank at the site.

The water in the tank is mainly natural storm water that has built up over the past year, Chammings said, and tests have confirmed that it is clean.

The sludge in the smaller holding tanks will be transported to another facility.

After emptying the tank, Chammings says that the town plans on breaking it down and removing it from the site.

The town is submitting an action plan for the removal of the facility to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Chammings hopes that the town can complete the first step of project within the next month.

Chammings said that the largest cost to the town to dismantle the site will be the tipping fee it needs to pay to transport the sludge.

Dismantling the rest of the treatment plant will be a longer process because it will involve taking apart steel structures. 

The treatment facility previously served Robinson Mill itself, several duplex homes in the vicinity and Oxford Town Hall.

Chammings says that the town foresaw "the writing on the wall" and installed a sewer system for the town office one year before the building shut down.

The Robinson Mill site was included as an alternative location for a waste water treatment facility in a feasibility study from engineering firm Woodard and Curran.

Woodard and Curran's report found that the cost of rehabilitating the Robinsin Mill site would be equivalent to building a new facility, the option the firm recommended.

Chammings says that the town was waiting for the results of the study before starting to tear down the old facility.

"At this point now, we know that it's not going to be functional, so we're taking it out of there," Chammings said.