MIDDLEBORO — The Select Board approved a contractor’s $26 million bid to replace the East Grove Water Treatment Plant at its June 23 meeting.

WES Construction Corp., a Halifax-based company, won the contract with a bid of $26,213,000. Construction is expected to begin in August, according to Water Superintendent Michael Bumpus.

Town Administrator James McGrail described the project as “one of the most expensive public works projects in the town’s history.”

Plans to rebuild the East Grove plant began in 2024, when water from the East Grove Street well tested above a new state standard for acceptable levels of PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals." These chemicals are often found in household cookware, food packaging and firefighting foam. Since the above-acceptable test results, the East Grove Street well has not contributed to the town's water supply, but has remained “online” for emergency use.

Town officials have worked for more than a year to address the issue and reduce PFAS to below detectable levels. Rebuilding and installing a PFAS filtration system at the East Grove Treatment Plant is a major next step in that process.

At the 2024 Spring Town Meeting, voters approved $33 million in funding for the project. While the contractor’s bid came in about $7 million under that amount, McGrail said the full appropriation will be used once engineering and other associated “soft costs” are included.

Middleboro will borrow the full $33 million — primarily through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The loan comes with a 0% interest rate and a minimum of 11% principal forgiveness, meaning the town will repay at least $3.6 million less than the borrowed amount.

Bumpus said the Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction over the Nemasket River, included several permitting stipulations to protect red-bellied cooter turtles that inhabit the area near the project site.

“I don’t want to use the word scrutiny but we’re going to be under a lot of light because of the turtles,” Bumpus said, adding that precautions such as installing barrier nets will be taken to protect their habitat and hatching areas.

The town has been working with engineering firm Weston & Sampson to design the new plant. The firm was also involved in the bidding process, McGrail said. He described the process as “highly scrutinized” and requiring many hours of work.

“The public should know that we did vet every contractor who bid the project. So we shouldn’t have any problems moving forward,” said Select Board Chair Mark Germain.

Town officials assured the public that every precaution was taken to ensure the quality of the contractor awarded the project.

“I just want the taxpayers to have confidence in the bidder we worked to,” Germain said.

A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for late August or early September.