Have you seen the big trucks out front?
The district has begun the installation of a new water filtration system for Miscoe’s well water.
In October the district learned that samples from the drinking water showed elevated manganese levels (.33 milligrams per liter of water) which slightly exceeded the MassDEP Guidance Levels. The district immediately turned off all water fountains, switched to bottled water/water coolers, and provided bottled water for food preparation.
During Monday’s school committee meeting Superintendent Dr. Joseph Maruszczak noted manganese level guidelines vary from state to state saying, “If you were to travel to CT the acceptable level there is .5.” Emphasizing all measures taken were in an abundance of caution.
The district determined a water filtration system was needed to reduce the manganese levels.
Maruszczak said the district was faced with two options. One was an ion exchange system which offers a lower up front cost of $25,000 but has a high maintenance cost; requiring multiple large tanks which would need to be exchanged every ten days based on the schools use of about 3,000 gallons of water a day.
The second option, pressure filtration, had a greater upfront cost but according Maruszczak would cost much less to maintain. The pressure filtration system works similar to a pool filtration system where the water gets filtered through green sand which takes out impurities. The water then goes out to a raised leach field.
“From a cost perspective the pressure filtration system was the way to go,” said Maruszczak.
What are the trucks for? The installation of the raised leach field for the pressure filtration system. A raised field was required due to the high water table. The field will be about 30 x 40 x 3 feet tall. The water will go into a 1000 tank, be pumped uphill to the raised field, and then dissipate back into the ground.
The project should be complete in a couple of weeks and the school will have to wait for an okay from the MA DEP before switching over to the new system.
Maruszczak said, “We anticipate by the end of this month having this system in place.”
UPTON DAILY 