ROCKPORT — A group of citizens operating as a sanctioned municipal task force have made initial recommendations to the Rockport Select Board on where to preferably site a wastewater treatment plant, should the town pursue going it alone with a municipal sewer system. Now that task force want to hear from the public before making its final recommendations.

On March 6, at 6:30 p.m., and again on March 7, at 3 p.m., there will be two public meetings at the Rockport Opera House to solicit opinion on the proposed plans.

Currently, Rockport pumps its wastewater to Camden and Rockland, depending on where in town the pipes are directed. But, over the past three years, a battle over finances has dragged on between Camden and Rockport, one that had landed in court and is still being debated. But while that was underway, Rockport began talking about taking control of its own system, building a treatment plan, and expanding the system out along Route 90.

Last year, the WRRF Task Force, consisting of Rockport residents Bill Bow, Samuel Clark, Bob Kollmar and Doug Cole, got to work on researching not only possible locations for a wastewater treatment facility, but the most recent technology of treating sewage.

They have compiled what they learned, along with a financial analysis of four options, into one document: Status of WRRF Evaluation.

In that report, the task force also analyzed the four potential locations for a sewage treatment plant: Cramer Park at the head of Rockport Harbor; the Public Safety building lot on Main Street; the Public Works facility off of Route 1; and the campus of Pen Bay Medical Center.

In the Evaluation, the task force concluded that a facility would take four to six years to complete, and while all four locations were feasible, the favored spots are at Rockport Public Works land and Pen Bay Medical Center.

The favored technology is membrane bioreactors, which rely on microorganisms suspended in the wastewater to treat it, or submerged attached growth bioreactors.

Including the Route 90 extension is critical to the WRRF project economics, as well as providing other economic and environmental benefits to Rockport, the evaluation said.

“Siting the WRRF at PBMC may provide increased operational resilience for the hospital in the event of unanticipated water supply disruption – through recapture for non potable use,” the evaluation said.

Learn more about the recommendations, and to watch the Feb. 12 Select Board meeting when the task force presented its findings, at the Rockport municipal website page dedicated to wastewater improvements.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657