Something you might not know about Sugarbush is the water treatment facilities that operate right on the mountain. These facilities are entirely separate from our snowmaking operations, and focus on providing clean water to guests and staff, as well as manage wastewater and storm water that come from the mountain. There are three privately owned companies that work under Sugarbush to manage the water used. These companies are Mountain Water Company (MWC), Lincoln Peak Wastewater Treatment (LPWWT), and Mountain Wastewater Treatment (MWT).
Where does all this water come from and where does it go? Well, that’s what Gene Martin, Sugarbush’s Director of Utilities and Chief Wastewater Operator, and his team oversee. Both how the water is sourced and treated, as well as how it’s handled after it’s been used is an essential aspect of the resort’s environmental mission. From wells, to filtration systems, numerous tests and plenty more, go into the complicated process of managing Sugarbush’s water use. You can read more about those processes here, in a post explaining the entirety of the system in more detail.
Updates for Providing Quality Water
This year, a huge project worth around $1 million was completed to further improve Sugarbush’s water system. This project included the replacement of the existing 47-year old, 8-foot diameter, Graver tertiary filter at the Mountain Wastewater Treatment Facility. The tertiary filter is a primary piece of wastewater process infrastructure to provide effluent quality meeting permit requirements. It is both custom engineered and manufactured, and is part of many processes treating wastewater to meet permit limitations for release into the environment.
The fundamental benefit of this project is to have an upgraded state of the art piece of infrastructure providing a high quality effluent that will last for decades