Every day, 200,000 gallons of raw sewage arrive at a set of small buildings on the bank of the Lamprey River in Epping – an unstoppable flow from flushed toilets and open drains.
In the first building, a set of screens strain out big objects. Then, the wastewater goes into basins where oxygen is pumped in and bacteria digest human waste, cleaning up the water. Next up are a set of membranes, then a UV disinfection tank. Finally, water, clear and clean, flows into the Lamprey River.
But increasing demand and a lack of backup systems meant the plant at times bypassed those steps almost completely, discharging sewage into the river. Epping has racked up more than 125 violations of the Clean Water Act, and it’ll require roughly $38 million to get the system back into compliance with state and federal regulators.
Several communities across New Hampshire this year are dealing with a confluence of aging wastewater infrastructure, growing populations and expensive construction costs.
In Epping, voters have to decide Tuesday whether or not to approve the biggest bond in town history to upgrade their plant. The consequence of not approving the bond could be steep. The town is legally required to make upgrades, and they could be fined more than $90,000 per day if they don’t. They’re also at risk of pouring more sewage into the river.
“What I try and get across is that we are in a high risk situation,” said Jake Roger, Epping’s town administrator. “At any point, the screen could fail, and we’re in big trouble.”
In a town where most residents have septic systems and don’t even use the wastewater treatment plant, $38 million is a tough sell. The bond would raise property taxes hundreds of dollars per household, even for those who aren’t directly affected by the plant’s issues.
But Roger has a pitch he’s making to voters: think about the expense as a public issue – and the benefits of upgrading the system as public benefits, which include all the community buildings connected to the plant – the school, the police station, the town hall, downtown businesses.
“And then property values in general, which I imagine would go down if all of a sudden your town's overflowing with sewage,” Roger said.
Plus, he said, Epping is one of the fastest-growing towns in the state, and they need more capacity if they’re going to serve all the new people living there.
What went wrong?
In 2021, Epping installed new equipment in its wastewater treatment system – a new kind of membrane to filter the water. It didn’t work well, and soon the plant was having operational issues.
The town started to put sewage in two storage lagoons on site. But when the lagoons filled up, Epping officials started to bypass the processes that are meant to clean wastewater, dumping sewage that was only partially treated into the Lamprey River.
Town officials made some fixes, like replacing the membranes and building a greenhouse around them to keep the system warm and help it function more effectively.
But federal and state regulators realized the plant had a much bigger problem. There are no back up systems. There’s no place for wastewater to go if a part of the plant fails.
Operators could switch in spare equipment, but that would require diverting the flow of sewage for the time it takes to make repairs. Right now, the plant has one lagoon that can store sewage – but the EPA is requiring Epping to close that lagoon by 2028.
“The sewage comes in no matter what. So you have to be able to deal with it,” said Bruce Bain, Epping’s wastewater treatment plant operator. Bain took the job less than a year ago.
Redundancy is a best practice for any wastewater treatment system, he said, and a requirement for many. New Hampshire officials have told Epping they can’t close the lagoon until they upgrade the plant and have more backup equipment.
Plus, Bain said, the plant is just making do with the current size of its equipment. For example, the bacteria that digest waste need particular environments to thrive. Bain affectionately calls them “bugs,” and the plant a “bug farm.”
The bacteria are working overtime to process all the waste, he said.
“Without the additional capacity, we’re really just pushing the limits,” he said. “You’re right at the edge with your bugs.”
New Hampshire regulators won’t allow Epping to hook up any new sewers or receive additional septage until the plant is upgraded.
Downstream, the town of Durham and the University of New Hampshire have had to switch drinking water sources to avoid the Lamprey River. Roger says he’s worried the town may face lawsuits from those communities, or from developers who want to connect to the sewer system in Epping.
A statewide issue
Across the country, wastewater treatment plants are aging and facing new challenges as climate change makes rainfall and drought more intense.
Much of the country’s wastewater infrastructure was built with federal funding in the 1970s to comply with new requirements for sewage in the Clean Water Act. Communities had a lot of help to create those plants.
“It was like getting a new car for free, or five cents on the dollar,” said Tracy Wood, the administrator of wastewater infrastructure at New Hampshire's Department of Environmental Services. “And you take that car and you do the bare minimum to keep that car running, and eventually, that car is falling apart.”
For many communities, the plants they have been using for decades are running into the ground. They haven’t caught up to new environmental standards. And towns don’t have money to replace them.
“A lot of communities are having to put forth large warrant articles to basically build a new, or upgrade, their treatment plant to come into compliance,” Wood said.
Funding for wastewater upgrades is coming up at town meetings across the state this spring. Communities like Troy, Hampton, and Pittsfield are asking voters to approve funds for wastewater projects. In Waterville Valley, officials are trying to raise $75million.
In 2022, New Hampshire reported the total cost to address wastewater issues statewide would be $4.2 billion. That’s about a quarter of the entire biannual state budget.
But public funds for wastewater infrastructure are becoming more difficult to find, Wood said. Among other issues, money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is set to dry up after this year.
“Basically,” Wood said, “New Hampshire will have about 50% less funding in future years after 2026.”
She estimated the state would be able to provide about $38 million per year – the cost of just one project.
But for towns like Epping, the work that’s needed to upgrade these plants is like the sewage they treat: impossible to ignore or avoid.
If the town can’t get three-fifths of voters on board with the bond, officials will just keep proposing it until they can raise the money. With inflation and re-engineering, the cost will rise about $1.5 million per year, Roger said.
