NEWBURYPORT — Recent flooding and more combined sewage overflows have Mayor Sean Reardon thinking more about the city’s water supply these days. With that in mind, he’ll host a field trip to the Artichoke Reservoir later this month.
“This will be a good opportunity for people to learn a little more about the things we have in our pipeline and how we’re tracking those issues,” Reardon said. “Most people haven’t seen the spillway before, so why not take them over there to get a look at it?”
The city draws its water from the Upper Artichoke and Lower Artichoke reservoirs as well as the Indian Hill Reservoir, partly located in West Newbury.
A minor breach at the Lower Artichoke occurred during heavy rain Jan 13, according to Reardon, who said water from the Merrimack River flowed into the reservoir.
City Chief of Staff Andrew Levine said testing showed no levels of river water or pollutants that would make the public water source unsafe. But the mayor has been hearing from many residents interested in learning more about what the city is doing to avoid future occurrences.
City councilors also want to know more and Reardon said he has been working with the Department of Public Services and the Newburyport Resiliency Committee to organize a public presentation and visit to the Lower Artichoke Dam on April 24.
“We have a lot of money involved in potential water-related projects right now,” the mayor said. “So we thought, why not do a little presentation and Q&A about the different water projects we have in the pipeline?”
The trip begins at 2 p.m. with the Q&A Session at the Senior/Community Center and focusing on the city’s water supply and reservoir protection efforts.
Participants will then head to the Lower Artichoke Dam.
“I think we’ll be using the Council on Aging vans,” Reardon said. “DPS will show everyone the site and describe the mitigation work in more detail.”
Many city residents are interested in resiliency issues, according to Reardon, who believes the field trip will be “very popular” but he would like to cap the number of participants at 50.
“People know that we have these big projects in the pipeline but probably don’t understand them,” he said.
Levine said City Council President Ed Cameron, at-large City Councilors Mark Wright and Connie Preston, and Ward 4 Councilor Ben Harman have already signed up.
The reservoirs are in Ward 6, prompting that ward’s city councilor, Byron Lane, to express interest as well.
“My intention is to get there,” he said.
Last summer, Lane suggested fining upriver communities such as Lowell, Haverhill and Manchester, New Hampshire, $50,000 each time they discharge wastewater into the Merrimack River
He said the combined sewage overflow issue goes hand in hand with addressing the city’s water concerns.
“We’re looking at a big cost on that to make sure we’re not going to run into any serious health problems and that’s why I’m still interested in fining those upriver communities,” Lane said. “It’s not just to make money but to address the problems we’re having because of this.”
The city recently received roughly $883,000 in federal funding through U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey to complete the next phase of a design study for a project that would allow the city to bypass the Upper Artichoke and Lower Artichoke reservoirs and send water back and forth to the Indian Hill Reservoir should it become necessary.
The first phase of the proposed pipeline project would cost $6.3 million, with the second phase coming in at about $25 million, according to Levine.
“The city is still accessing these projects while they’re in the early design phases to make there is no overlap and to see which projects would allow us to fulfill our goals at the right price,” he said.
The mayor has also been looking to replace the 100-year-old water main running from the Lower Artichoke pumping station to the water treatment plant on Spring Lane. The full project has been estimated to cost $5.7 million and the city’s capital improvement plan also includes an additional $1 million to build a new Water Street lift station.
Levine said improvements to the Lower Artichoke Dam are also in the capital improvement plan and early designs for the project have been funded by a $250,000 grant from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ Dam and Seawall Repair or Removal program.
The City Council also recently approved $140,000 to pay for an owner’s project manager to look at all of the city’s water projects and help prioritize, as well as come up with, a plan for developing, funding and managing them.
“We already have our feelers out there and about four people have responded to it,” Reardon said. “They will come in and look at our water projects across the board, then put us on a path to making them happen.”
Reardon added that the city will not be able to complete all of its proposed water projects but he hopes to do as many as possible.
“Let’s have an expert come in and tell us the things we want to do first because we’ve got redundancy,” he said. “We also have to protect ourselves from algae blooms and maintain the quality of the water.”
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.