WASHBURN – With $1.7 million in funding in place, town officials are set to begin Washburn’s biggest sewer project in more than a decade.

Construction, including major upgrades to the town’s sewer plant and the installation of new sewer lines, is set to begin in mid-April.

The sewer plant on Parsons Road will be outfitted with a new aeration system to answer a Department of Environmental Protection violation for algae concerns in the town’s lagoon.

The town also will put in new sewer lines on Hilt and Church streets, as well as New Dunntown Road. Town Manager Jim Gardner said Wednesday that the town is switching the lines over from private septic systems to the town’s system because of the proximity of the septic systems to a water aquifer.

The town received a $300,000 Rural Development loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It also garnered $1.4 million in grants – $800,000 from the Department of Economic and Community Development, $400,000 from the USDA-Rural Development and $274,000 as part of the bond issue.

Washburn officials recently awarded the construction contract to Ed Pelletier and Sons of Madawaska.

Olver Associates out of Winterport is overseeing the engineering aspects of the project.

The work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31.