Boothbay Harbor is one of two Maine communities receiving a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Grant for improving water and wastewater infrastructure. On Nov. 1, the federal agency announced a $600,000 award to the Boothbay Harbor Sewer District. The Rural Development funds are for replacing the Union Street pump station and 900 linear feet of force mains in greater downtown Boothbay Harbor.

The district is receiving a $450,000 loan and $150,000 grant. The rehabilitation project will begin next fall, according to Sewer District Superintendent Chris Higgins. The project calls for replacing the original underground station described by Higgins as a “big tin can” with a new concrete model. The number of the station’s pumps will also be reduced. The current station has three pumps. The new one will have two.

The project will tie up three streets when it begins in October 2017. The project will be done in two phases. The contractor will decide whether the pump station or piping will be replaced first.

The project will disrupt downtown traffic so Higgins chose to delay the project.

“We wanted to do it this fall, but we weren’t ready to go out to bid. And we didn’t want to do it in the spring because it ties up three streets,” he said.

The pump station is located near the municipal parking lot and force mains extend out toward Union Street heading across Townsend Avenue and up to Oak Street Provisions. The replacement of the piping ends near a manhole located just before Oak Street Provisions, according to Higgins.

The district’s financial obligation will be paid through a note. The $450,000 principal and an estimated $22,000 in interest will be paid over a 40-year term, according to Higgins.

The second Maine project is in Kennebec County. The Vassalboro Sanitary District received a $3.8 million award to make an interconnection to the Kennebec Sanitary District Regional Wastewater Facility in Winslow. The district received a $2.113 million loan and $1.7 million grant.

The two Maine projects are part of $331 million the USDA is providing 85 projects nationwide to improve water and wastewater infrastructure in 39 states and American Samoa.