The City Council in Portsmouth has voted to approve a $90.1 million plan to upgrade the existing Peirce Island wastewater plant.
The Portsmouth Herald reports it will be the most expensive public project in the city's history.
The vote came despite the continued assertion by City Manager John Bohenko that the cost has been inflated as much as $40 million because of the Environmental Protection Agency's belief that nitrogen discharge from the plant is hurting Great Bay. He said there's "no impairment" on the bay.
The EPA, working with the state Department of Environmental Resources, has required towns and cities in the area to reduce their nitrogen discharge.
Bohenko says the alternative choice was an estimated $131.4 million upgrade to the Pease plant to treat all of the city's wastewater.
