Springfield’s drinking water improvement program continues with construction on Liberty Street

SPRINGFIELD — The latest installment in the years-long project to upgrade the city’s drinking water infrastructure will begin Monday, July 8, the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission announced Friday.

Water distribution mains running under Liberty Street between Main and Dwight streets will be replaced in the monthslong construction project.

A commission spokesperson said the project will start Monday and run through sometime in November, with two-way vehicular traffic maintained throughout the construction period. Both vehicle and pedestrian traffic will be directed by signage at the site.

Construction will run from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The downtown repairs are just a portion of the $550 million Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Renewal Program begun in 2021 when the federal government extended low-interest loans to the city to upgrade its underground systems. The funding was provided by the federal Environmental Protection Agency through its Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act authority. Additional funding was provided by matching funds from the Massachusetts Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

The city’s water and wastewater infrastructure system is being systematically improved, and in some cases replaced, to make water systems safer. In all, more than 20 separate projects over the course of six years are included under this funding cycle. The city’s involvement is now in its third year of the funding cycle.

Work started during the summer of 2021 at the source of the city’s drinking water, the Cobble Mountain Reservoir in Blandford and Granville, with improvements to its 70-year-old infrastructure. The 22-billion-gallon reservoir supplies water to more than 250,000 people in the lower Pioneer Valley.

Work continued along the flow of water from the reservoir. The Cobble Mountain Hydroelectric Station received almost $400,000 in improvements, including upgrades to transmission lines to bring the power to the ISO-NE grid. The hydroelectric generation plant uses the water flowing from the reservoir to the city to generate electricity. That power is sold to support the Water and Sewer Commission’s Capital Improvement Program.

The West Parish Filters Water Treatment Plant in Westfield was last modernized in 1974. The current project will see significant modernization over the next five to 10 years. The $238 million project will upgrade the quality of water flowing through and prepare for climate change in the future.

The sand filters have been used to clarify and improve the quality of water through disinfecting and treatment before flowing to Springfield. The plant is also the home of a state-certified laboratory where upwards of 50,000 tests are conducted on the water supply each year.

The next step along the water path to Springfield homes is the Provin Mountain storage tanks. Water flows via gravity to the three 12 million- to 17 million-gallon tanks, which maintain water pressure through the downstream system in the event of a large withdrawal such as firefighting. The tanks are cleaned and infrastructure improvements are made every three years.

The full $550 Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Renewal Program includes extensive improvements to Bondi’s Island wastewater treatment plant and underground infrastructure associated with wastewater conveyance.