DEERFIELD — The town will pursue engineering of a phased upgrade plan for the Old Deerfield Wastewater Treatment Plant, as the community continues to examine the best route forward for the aging facility.

The Selectboard/Sewer Commissioners recently approved a $44,140 contract with sewer consultant DPC Engineering, which has conducted the South Deerfield plant’s construction, that will see the company develop an alternative concept to undertaking a new building. The town has worked with the nonprofits in Old Deerfield and while the two parties did not agree on what system design to pursue, each choice was expected to cost at least $16 million.

Instead, Deerfield will look to DPC Engineering to develop a phased approach to repairing or replacing each system in the Little Meadow Road plant — electrical, mechanical and other building upgrades — to cut costs and find savings.

“We’re thinking of rolling this out a little at a time,” said Selectboard member Trevor McDaniel, adding that the goal is to flesh out the town’s plan a little more to nail down costs for each option.

Chief Wastewater Operator Eric Meals joined the board last week to share his input on the idea, which he supported, and to report there have been electrical issues with the plant in recent months, such as breakers randomly tripping.

“It will pretty much be a complete plant upgrade when it’s done, just not as extreme as the concrete pouring and all the other stuff we did at the other plant,” he said. “It will be more equipment-focused.”

The key issue with the plant right now is its age, as Meals described a lot things are “duct-taped together.” It is approximately a half-century old and the wastewater crew is reaching the limit of what is feasible to repair, as parts from the 1970s are harder to get with each passing year.

In that vein, the electrical infrastructure will be the first target of any work, if the town does pursue this plan. From there, the idea would be to pursue pumps and piping, then tanks and then finish off with building upgrades.

Meals added that a phased upgrade plan may also present opportunities for town staff to conduct mechanical work to “save some money for ourselves and the nonprofits.”

“We never want the Taj Mahal,” Meals said. “We just want an operating, functional plant.”

To pay for some of the work, Deerfield is likely going to approach the nonprofits in Old Deerfield for financial assistance, as the plant serves institutions like Deerfield Academy, Historic Deerfield and The Bement School, among others, while only serving about 30 Deerfield residences.

The nonprofits have helped in the past with sewer work, including as recently as summer 2024, with Deerfield Academy paying construction costs for two projects related to the Old Deerfield plant. Those projects, which included engineering costs paid by the town, totaled about $239,000.

The scope of work estimates DPC Engineering will complete its work in about four months.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.