Technical Memorandum No. 1 – Flows and Loads (March 2024)

The first in a series of technical memoranda prepared by Black & Veatch for the Town of Waterville Valley, TM No. 1: Flows and Loads establishes the foundational data used to size and design the community’s new Wastewater Treatment Facility. This analysis defines the expected quantity and strength of wastewater the upgraded plant must handle over the next 20 years—balancing capacity, efficiency, and cost.

Using five years of operating data (2019–2024), the memorandum examines how influent flows and pollutant loads vary across seasons and between weekdays and weekends. Special sampling conducted during the winter of 2023–24 revealed that weekend biological and solids loads are more than twice as high as weekday levels—evidence of how tourism and resort activity shape the community’s wastewater profile. Additional data from hotel-reservation trends and population projections were used to correlate visitor patterns with influent peaks.

The study also models anticipated growth in the Village Core, including proposed hotels, condos, restaurants, and a future gondola development expected by 2034. From these inputs, Black & Veatch developed a realistic design-basis flowthat avoids oversizing the plant (and incurring unnecessary capital and operating costs) while ensuring resilience during holiday surges or wet-weather events.

The findings show current average flows of about 0.12 million gallons per day, with potential peaks up to 0.38 MGD—far below the 0.55 MGD design limit in the existing permit. The report recommends right-sizing the new facility to match actual demand plus future growth, reflecting Waterville Valley’s commitment to prudent investment and environmental stewardship.

In short, TM No. 1 supplies the analytical backbone for all subsequent design and financing decisions. It translates community demographics, tourism cycles, and infrastructure realities into the numbers that will drive the engineering of a modern, efficient, and sustainable treatment facility for decades to come.