Orleans committee pushes $80,000 Baker's Pond alum treatment at spring Town Meeting

ORLEANS — February 3, 2026 — Orleans water quality panel advances $80,000 Baker's Pond alum treatment warrant article for spring Town Meeting. The Marine and Freshwater Quality Committee heard February 3 that the Baker's Pond alum treatment request, previously budgeted at $70,000 in an unsuccessful prior attempt, is being drafted at $80,000 and may be combined with funding for Cedar Pond and Lonnie's Pond; the Select Board could take it up as soon as February 11. Member Bob Mullen, the committee's Wastewater Management Advisory Committee liaison, warned that the town's wastewater treatment plant will operate at 90 to 95 percent of capacity after Phase 4 is complete and flagged a new state groundwater discharge permit standard limiting water-table mounding to 0.1 foot — "a little more than an inch" — that could complicate the plant expansion needed for later phases. Mullen also relayed that a Mill Pond-area resident, Charlie Carlson, had contacted the committee urging acceleration of sewer service to that neighborhood, which is not scheduled until approximately Phase 11 under the current plan.