WEST SPRINGFIELD – The groundbreaking ceremony for five separate water quality improvement projects – two of which include drinking water – took place at the West Springfield Town Common on Oct. 10. The projects are worth a total of $20.3 million in infrastructure work.

The Town is currently working on three Clean Water Projects, geared toward the sewer system, and two Drinking Water Projects, aimed at the drinking water system. The projects will be funded through the town’s water and sewer rates. Back in March, the Town Council approved incremental sewer and water rate increases over the next few years to help fund maintenance work, including a 50 percent rate hike for 2018 and a 30 percent increase in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021.

West Springfield was also chosen to receive a reduction in their principle for loans administered through the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust – essentially freeing up capital to put toward these projects. The Town qualified for $1,416,713 in principle loan forgiveness on the $19.7 million loan it obtained for the construction of the water treatment plant. The five water projects were also awarded principal forgivness for a portion of their loans.

Local officials, project managers, engineers and staff from various contractors gathered on the Town Common on Park Street to formally begin the work for the five water projects. West Springfield Mayor William Reichelt, Sen. James Welch, state Rep. Michael Finn and members from the Department of Environmental Protection Clean Water Trust were all in attendance.

“This is a really important occasion. I know it’s weird that we’re on the Town Common because the work that is happening is underground – but the projects are happening across the town,” said Mayor William Reichelt. “These are the State Revolving Fund projects, it’s about $20 million worth of water and sewer projects across the community. I know the fees have increased, but this is what it’s going to pay for.”

The two Drinking Water Projects include the Pressure Zone Modification Job and the Water Meter Replacement Job. Both equal a $7.5 million investment in the Town’s water system.

The Pressure Zone Modification Job will accomplish water line improvements – with some of the pipes dating back to the 1800s – in the Northwest district of the community. The goal of the project is to increase water pressure in the area surrounding Birnie Avenue, Piper Road, Morgan Road and Hewitt Street.

Department of Public Works Director Robert Colson explained that the low pressure in the area is caused by higher elevations of the homes.

“If you build a house at a higher elevation than the water system can service, you end up with low pressure,” he said. “West Springfield has about 350 homes that have less than 35 PSI, or pounds-per-square inch, and we’re hoping to help two-thirds of them with this project. This is our first step to fix it, and once these modifications are done, we’ll take a survey and see how much we’ve improved and which homes are still not quite there yet.”

Colson added that the DPW will be installing new booster stations in the area to increase the water flow and amount of water getting to the location. He also said many homes in the Northwest district have already installed their own booster pumps, and that these additions will further increase their pressure.

As far as the Water Meter Replacement Job goes, the DPW will work to replace over 3,000 manually read water meters. The department will install new radio read meters in their place, allowing for more efficient and reliable meter readings. The meters will also lower the costs for rate payers in the long-run, Colson stated.

“It’s sort of like you spend the money now, but you’ll retrieve it back forever because there’s less manual labor to read the meters,” he said.

The Director of Public Works said that the incremental water and sewer rate increases are necessary to fund these types of projects.

“There’s bout 450 miles of buried pipe in the ground. These projects – while they do address major needs that have been identified ­– are barely the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “We need to keep moving forward on a routine basis, replacing old pipe that’s in the grounds so that our system remains reliable for years to come. We’re really looking forward to continuing with many more major projects to keep renewing this system.”

Both the sewer and water projects are projected to be finished by the fall of 2019.