City of East Providence to save $2.5M with new wastewater contract

East Providence, RI – The City of East Providence will soon begin to see an annual savings of $250,000 thanks to a newly-negotiated wastewater operations contract.

The City of East Providence City Council voted 4-0 (with one councilor absent) on Tuesday in favor of the contract. Councilman Nate Cahoon introduced the resolution granting Mayor Bob DaSilva authorization to enter the City into the 10-year agreement.

The new agreement with Suez Water Environmental Services Inc. comes after Mayor DaSilva and member of the Department of Public Works spent 18 months negotiating the terms of the contract with the assistance of Arcadis U.S. Inc., who consulted on the technical terms of the project.

Currently, East Providence’s collection system includes 27 sewer pump stations, 133 miles of sewer and 3,216 sewer manholes. East Providence’s Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) handles on average 6.7 millions of gallon per day and at peak handles 14.2 millions of gallons per day.

“This contract not only provides sound, continuous wastewater operations, but it also provides a great savings to our residents,” Mayor DaSilva said. “The City looks forward to our continued relationship with Suez.”

The decision to seek an amendment came after careful considerations and studies to consider other arrangements for the wastewater system operations including reassuming municipal operations and procuring new contractors.

The contract includes the same level of service while still providing taxpayers with a $2.5 million savings over the life of the contract.

Suez said the company was able to provide that same level of service by “incorporating innovative technologies.”

In addition, the contract includes a maintenance and capital improvement budget of $1 million per year; construction of primary clarifier covers with odor control technology and new technology to help with collection systems investigations and reduction of blockages.

One of the priorities of this administration was to bring the issues of odor under control and this contract does that. It requires Suez in the first year of the contract to install clarifier covers to address the offensive odors that have plagued Riverside for years.