Water Treatment Plant

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide the highest quality drinking water in sufficient quantities to meet the Town's needs and demands.

Duties & ResponsibilitiesAerial view of the Tewksbury Water Treatment Plant

The Town of Tewksbury's water system includes a water treatment plant, which has a capacity to treat up to seven million gallons a day of water and operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. This six-acre facility is located on the banks of the Merrimack River which is also the source of raw water for the Town. There is two pressure boosting station and three storage tanks with a total storage capacity of seven million gallons. The distribution system also contains thousands of line gates, hydrants, and over 150 miles of water mains and water service lines used to convey potable water to over 10,000 residential and commercial facilities. The Town's staff is responsible for installing, repairing, and maintaining all components of the water system and for meeting all of Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations concerning water quality. Residential customers are billed bi-annually and Commercial accounts on a quarterly basis. The water consumption is also used to determine the customer's sewer charge.

The water system operation and maintenance activities are delegated between the Water Treatment staff and the Water and Sewer Division. The Water Treatment staff oversees the provision of quality water, repair water pumping equipment, maintain system hydraulics and perform backflow inspections, handles consumer complaints and test water at regular intervals for in-process monitoring and DEP requirements. Testing samples are collected from twelve designated locations and are tested weekly for Total Coliform and E-coli bacteria in compliance with the strict Drinking Water Regulations of Massachusetts and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Additional testing is performed on a schedule designated by DEP on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis.

The system operates as an enterprise fund. This means that water fees charged to customers are used to cover all operating and capital expenses.