WINTHROP -- Some Winthrop officials are looking at setting up a city wastewater treatment facility to avoid rising fees at the Augusta plant, where the work is done now.

Doug Whittier, a trustee of the Winthrop Utilities District, told councilors the idea came from a November 2007 public hearing in which ratepayers raised concerns about proposed fee increases to support the trunk line that sends wastewater to the plant in Augusta.

Whittier said trunk line costs have gone up an average of 6 percent a year for the past several years.

A consultant's report shows it might be beneficial for Winthrop to build its own treatment facility, Whittier said. "What I get out of the report is that we have options," Whittier told councilors. "It improves our bargaining position with Augusta."

Winthrop Utilities District trustees are to hold a regular business meeting at the district's office, 29 Bowdoin St., at 7 p.m. Tuesday. At that meeting, they may set a date in June for a public hearing to provide details of the plan.

The Winthrop Utilities District pays about $500,000 a year, including pump-station repair costs, to have its wastewater treated at the Jackson Avenue plant in Augusta, said Dan Wells, district superintendent. Wells also said Winthrop ratepayers are looking at supporting two, $2 million projects over the next several years that might involve replacement of 30-year-old pump stations.

"We're looking to see if it's cost-effective to do our own treatment, and preliminary financial figures show it might work," Wells said.

The Winthrop district paid $12,500 for an initial study by Dirigo Engineering and then $2,000 for additional information. "This was just preliminary feasibility," Wells said. "There were no design plans, no soil samples. That would be the next phase if the public wants to continue."

The Winthrop Utilities District has about 1,000 wastewater customers. Wells said any proposal to set up a plant in Winthrop would require negotiations with Monmouth, since its wastewater flows into the same trunk line en route to Augusta.

A new plant would have to apply treated waste on the ground locally. Some sites have been considered but not identified publicly, utility district officials said. "We really have nowhere to release it," Wells said. "We don't want to put it into the surface water."

Councilor Kevin Cookson told Whittier he preferred the district first solve problems with infiltration into the lines in Winthrop. "It gets into the trunk line and it's more water that goes in that doesn't need to be treated," Cookson said.

Cookson said it would be difficult to convince him that Winthrop should have its own plant.

Two trustees from the Greater Augusta Utility District watched Whittier's presentation to the Winthrop Town Council. "We look at this as a communication thing," said Brian Tarbuck, general manager of the Augusta Utility District. "Their ratepayers said, 'Is there a better way?' And they have to look into that."

For 2008, Winthrop accounts for 52 percent of the wastewater coming to the Augusta plant from the neighboring communities, Tarbuck said.

A trunk-line group made up of representatives from Monmouth Sanitary District, Winthrop Utilities District, Manchester Sanitary District and Greater Augusta Utility District vote on costs involving the trunk line.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com