Annual report of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire

sand/salting crews were called out 18 times to treat the roads for icing
conditions.
A fourth spreader and a new/used sidewalk plow were welcome
additions to our snow emergency arsenal. I am truly grateful to the department
personnel who participate in the snow fighting operations, and post storm clean
up and road treatment. Their dedication to securing the Town in inclement
weather and emergencies is exemplary.
Treatment Plant
The needs of the Wastewater Treatment Plant continue to evolve as population
growth and federal regulations impact operations. This past year we
successfully implemented a 1.4 million dollar project to convert tanks from
mechanical aerators to a fine bubble diffused air system. This enabled us to
achieve "nitrification" of the wastewater thereby reducing harmful ammonia in
our effluent.
Unfortunately, greater detention times required for the nitrification
process reduced plant capacity and, as a result of the ongoing year long study
with our consultant, we find we are in need of an additional secondary clarifier
tank. This work will be proposed in the 1999 warrant for your vote. The
following year we will have to expand aeration tank capacity to bring us back to
design capacity which would allow for anticipated growth of the Town.
average flow received at the treatment plant was 1 .94 million gallons per day for
an annual total of 709 million gallons of wastewater, 2.7 million gallons of
which was septage (septage was down moderately from last year). We
processed 3,398 tons of biosolids (sludge) and removed an additional 103 tons
of grit.
The
Highway Maintenance
Road resurfacing and rehabilitation are expensive annual efforts. This year we
were able to resurface portions of High St., Exeter Rd., Mace Rd., North Shore
Rd., Longwood Dr., and Cusack Road. Portions of Moulton Rd. and Mill Rd.
were regraded with a shim coat. We also patched a section of the Ashworth
Ave. parking lot. As always pot holes and eroded shoulders were repaired as
needed in order to keep the roads safe and minimize further deterioration.
replaced and/or installed 294 traffic signs during 1998. Sand grading was done
with a rental dozer at the town beach areas at the end of Boston, Concord,
Atlantic and Bradford Aves. and at Sun Valley. We constructed the soccer field
which will be ready for use next year, helped the Recreation Dept. with the new
skateboard park, and improved the parking at the inline skating rink at Lewis
Brown Park. Everyone is eagerly looking forward to the reconstruction of
Lafayette Road which is scheduled to begin in the Fall of 1999. It has been a
long process with considerable coordination between the State,
utility companies and existing businesses.
We
the Town, the
Solid Waste and Recycling
Solid waste collection, particularly during the summer, was an ever present,
labor intensive task, but our crews did a commendable job upholding our high
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