City Hosts Dedication of the $92 Million Upgraded Peirce Island Wastewater Treatment Facility
July 7, 2021
The City of Portsmouth Department of Public Works will dedicate the new Peirce Island Wastewater Treatment Facility located on Peirce Island in Portsmouth on Tuesday, July 13, 2021 at 5 pm. (Facility tours, in small groups, follow remarks.) NH Department of Environment Services Commissioner Robert Scott will tour the facility with DPW Director Peter Rice. The $92 million project marks a milestone in the City’s history and with $89.1 million in state funding, is the largest in the history of the NH State Revolving Fund loan programs that support drinking water safety, water quality, and public health through low-cost financial assistance.
City officials and representatives from EPA and the project design and construction firms will participate. The event is open to the public.
As intended, this project significantly increases the level of wastewater treatment provided at the facility, resulting in improved effluent discharged to the Piscataqua River. The upgrade to the Peirce Island Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) included the installation of new headworks, rotary screw presses for solids dewatering and an advanced secondary biological treatment process which removes organics and nitrogen. This process enhances the treatment at the facility with the addition of a biologically aerated/anoxic filter (BAF) using the Kruger BioSTYR ™ technology. The project also included converting the old Sludge Processing Building to the new Operations/Laboratory Building.
As it returns the construction site to public use, the City continues to work with the Peirce Island Committee to add a trail extending from the current Cliff Overlook along the Piscataqua River’s edge to the south side of the treatment facility, which will complete the trail loop around this end of Peirce Island.
Design of the facility was led by AECOM. The construction project was awarded to Methuen Construction and began in September 2016.
