Queset Commons

Massachusetts

100,000

GPD Design Flow

mg/L TN

150,000

GPD Expansion Capacity

Challenge

Queset Commons is a new mixed-use development also located in Easton, Massachusetts. The NSU Commons project is on a 68.7 acre property within a designated smart growth zoning area, set back from the shoreline of Queset Pond.

Highlights

Public-Private Partnership
Architect-designed WWTP building reflects H.H. Richardson style of historic buildings in the community
Collaborated with the town to develop a win-win solution for district economic development
Ozone and Ultraviolet disinfection provides reuse-quality water for groundwater recharge
2015/2019 construction

The Solution

Summary

Proposed new uses in the NSU Queset Commons project include: 197 residential units (a mix of condominiums and apartments); 116,000 square feet of retail and commercial space; and an 83-unit assisted living facility. These existing and proposed units will be served by a wastewater treatment facility that has been preliminary designed by AWM. Phase 1 of the project will have design flows of 76,000 gpd; phase 2 will have additional design flows of 24,000 gpd; and phase 3 will have design flows of an additional 50,000 gpd. DAKB has had the wastewater treatment plant building exterior designed by an architect to incorporate historic architect H.H. Richardson’s design elements, with expansion capacity to the total of 150,000 gpd design flow.

Solutions

In July, 2013, NSU and DAKB executed a design-build agreement for final design and construction of the first phase of the project providing 76,000 gallons per day of wastewater reclamation capacity. Construction was completed in the summer of 2015, and NSU commenced operation and maintenance under a five-year operating agreement with DAKB, with initial flows limited to 50,000 gpd discharge to a single leachfield.

The Town of Easton has established the Queset Sewer District, which will collect up to 50,000 gpd of wastewater along public rights of way and convey it to the Queset Commons WWTP. The expansion of the plant and leachfield capacity to 100,000 gpd, has been completed to allow for onsite treatment of the private and public wastewater and dispersal. The Town will operate the collection system and DAKB/NSU will operate the WWTP. The town will collect betterment and operating fees from the users of the municipal WWTP and pay DAKB for their share of the capital construction of the WWTP, another leachfield, and the town’s share of the WWTP operating costs. DAKB will eventually increase WWTP and leachfield capacity to 150,000 gpd, when they need that last 50,000 gpd for the build out of the mixed-use smart-growth project