Groton —  A "crucial phase of Groton Utilities’ water treatment plant construction project” has been completed and water is now being clarified and filtered within the plant, according to an announcement.

The City of Groton and GU, along with the state Department of Public Health's Drinking Water Section, held a virtual celebration on Nov. 30 to mark the completion of the third of five phases. The plant is slated to be completed in spring of 2021.

“It's quite an accomplishment,” said Lori Mathieu, chief of the Environmental Health and Drinking Water Branch of the DPH. “We're so pleased to be able to celebrate this today ... this is an extraordinary project (to complete) during normal times, but it's incredibly extraordinary during the time of (COVID-19)."

Cam Walden, supervising sanitary engineer from DPH, said the project "was considered the state’s number one priority for its Drinking Water State Revolving Fund," the release stated. The $54 million project was the largest funded through that fund, and the first to receive state grant money — $15 million — from the DPH Public Water System Improvement Program.

“The project will greatly strengthen the drinking water infrastructure in this region of Connecticut for the next several decades,” Walden said.

Rick Stevens, manager of the Groton Utilities' Water Division, narrated a prerecorded video of a virtual tour of the new plant, according to the release.

City Mayor Keith Hedrick thanked all participants, especially the GU staff. “The employees are the men and women who started the project, and they're going to continue it," he said. "And we're going to have a state-of-the-art facility because of them that will meet water standards now and into the future.”

Construction on the new plant, which replaces a 1938 facility, began in 2017. The main dissolved air flotation building, where primary filtration occurs, is approximately 20,000 square feet, according to the release. The new plant can process up to 12 million gallons of water per day, exceeding the earlier plant. Two new elevated water storage tanks can both hold up to 1 million gallons of water in reserve.

GU supplies water to approximately 45,000 people in an area that includes the City of Groton, Town of Groton, Noank, Groton Long Point, the Mohegan Tribal Authority, Montville and Ledyard, and the Aquarion Water Company’s Mystic division, the release states. Emergency interconnects are available to the Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority, Norwich, New London, Waterford and East Lyme. Pfizer, Electric Boat and the U.S. Naval Submarine Base are among its larger clients.