Regional Wastewater Treatment Facilities

The Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District was created by the Massachusetts General Court in Chapter 752 of the Acts of 1968. Current District members include Auburn, Cherry Valley Sewer District, Holden, Millbury, Rutland, West Boylston, and Worcester. Additionally, the District serves portions of Oxford, Paxton, Shrewsbury, and Sutton as well as treating septage and sludge from numerous other communities. 

TREATMENT FACILITIES

The Upper Blackstone Wastewater Treatment Facility went on line in 1976, and was designed to provide secondary treatment to an average flow of 56 million gallons per day (mgd).  It utilizes the activated sludge process to remove over 90 percent of the major pollutants entering the plant.  The facility has considerably improved the quality of the Blackstone River and continues to protect its headwaters from contamination.  Recent performance is summarized in Table 1 on the performance page.

Since startup of its’ treatment facility in 1976, the District has been asked to achieve more and more stringent effluent standards as the quality of the Blackstone River is improved. The District’s plant is currently achieving a higher standard of performance than was envisioned when it was designed and constructed, and must achieve even more stringent standards in the future.

The District has recently completed over $80 million in plant improvements to help achieve modern environmental standards.  These include installation of improved air pollution controls, construction of a modern landfill, modernized laboratory and administration facilities, enhanced site security, and the first phase of an ongoing plant improvement project.

PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS

In order to achieve future water quality goals, and to continue to modernize our 25 year old facility, the District has initiated a $180 million plant improvement project that is being completed in four phases through the coming 8 years.  The first phase is now being completed.  The second phase will be completed by the end of 2009.  Together these phases will achieve major improvements in stormwater management, wastewater treatment, odor control, and plant instrumentation and control.  Later phases of the project will build on these improvements, providing more efficient solids management and expanding plant capacity to accommodate growth in our service area.