Newport Plant to Purify Stormwater

Newport’s city officials joined Director of Utilities Julia A. Forgue  to tour the new ultra violet water treatment plant at on Monday morning to check on the progress of the environmental water cleaning system.

The $6 million structure, which will clean bacteria from storm water, uses the moat around Easton’s Pond and should stop frequent beach closings due to contaminated storm water this summer. The method uses ultra violet lights to purify storm water which is channeled from the moat by a diversionary dam to a series of waterways down to Easton’s Bay. Currently, the law requires that the beach be closed for up to twelve hours after rains of a quarter of an inch or more. Costly beach closures are now said to be unnecessary with the new UV system. 

The UV plant will be operational from Memorial Day to Labor Day for the beach season and is going through final inspections May 3, Forgue said. Though the project required considerable construction, residents will notice little change in the area when it is finished and landscaped, since it structure operates underground.

The approximately $6 million cost of the plant was financed in part by Clean Water State Revolving Loan Funds, stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,  city sewer taxes, and earmarks obtained by Rhode Island’s Congressional delegations. 

Although Councilor Justin McLaughlin was not present at the tour, he said he had every confidence the UV plant will work well for all involved.

“The tech they’re using is so safe it’s used to clean drinking water in other parts of the world. Surely, we it should be good enough to get our swimming water under control," he said.

The project, which has been under examination since 2006, was originally scheduled to begin last year, but the EPA waiver did not come through in time to begin construction.

Mayor Stephen Waluk said that he was elated to see the progress of the project yesterday.

“The beach closures have been a problem for six or seven years now, and just to be able to see the new plant work was exciting. It seems to be on track operation-wise," he said. "After identifying the problem and exploring our options, seeing the UV plant constructed and functioning is the last piece of the puzzle."