The Carnegie Abbey on Narragansett Bay. is a private golf and sporting club with an international membership. Construction of the 300-acre, world-class links-style golf course in Portsmouth, RI, is now complete and the club opened in July 2000. NE&C was chosen to provide site/civil engineering and environmental and coastal permitting.

SURVEY
The survey department conducted a large-scale series of horizontal traverses and vertical bench runs to provide horizontal and vertical data for the production of aerial contour maps of a 200+ acre site of woodlands, marsh areas, brooks, and cultivated fields. After acquisition of the varied permits required by the several regulatory agencies under whose jurisdiction the site lay, the survey department undertook to provide all the layout services required by on-site contractors: layout of sediment control barriers; layout of tees and greens; septic system layout; service road layout; and building layout. The survey crew performed a hydrographic survey of an area on Narragansett Bay at the site of a proposed marine dock. NE&C also performed structural engineering for the dock.

WASTEWATER
Northeast Engineers & Consultants, Inc. (NE&C) has designed several Individual Sewage Disposal Systems (ISDS’s) for the client’s Bloody Run Links Golf Course. The site involves several types of wetlands, coastlines, and watercourses. The golf course currently houses three structures: the Lookout, the Maintenance Barn, and the Golf Lodge. Each of these structures is serviced by their own Individual Sewage Disposal System (ISDS). The client is proposing to construct a 51 bedroom Golf House (club house) that also contains a restaurant, bar, lounge, locker rooms, kitchen, and employee offices. The predicted daily sewage flow is approximately 12,000 gallons. Due to the location of the proposed structure (on a small peninsula approximately 220 feet from Narragansett Bay and 130 feet from the wetlands associated with Barker (Bloody) Brook’s outlet to the bay), the necessary drainage components, and the environmental impact from an on-site sewage disposal system of this size, it was NE&C’s opinion to relocate the proposed ISDS to a remote location further away from these wetlands and the coastline.

In order to limit the environmental impact and to ensure that the proposed ISDS does not infringe on the groundwater quality, the proposed ISDS involves a Modular FAST system. The FAST system will pre-treat the effluent prior to its introduction to the environment. As a result of the FAST system’s introduction to the septic system, the nitrogen concentrations were reduced from 14.36 mg/L down to 0.71 mg/L.

ENVIRONMENTAL
NE&C conducted a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment to determine if further action was necessary. An investigation to determine if the groundwater and soil in the northwestern portion of the Site has been impacted, by the possible discharge of wastewater to a detention pond associated with a former manufacturing facility located on an adjoining lot, was also conducted. NE&C also conducted an investigation to determine if arsenic concentrations detected at the Site were attributed to background levels or were due to an arsenic release.

PERMITTING
The golf course design required close cooperation between the owners, golf course architects, and many state and local officials. NE&C prepared complete site plans for the permitting and construction process, including utility routing and septic design for the Maintenance Barn, Lookout, Golf Lodge, and Golf House (a 25-room hotel). The site has extensive wetlands, which required a lengthy and complex permitting process under the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Freshwater Wetlands Program. The Carnegie Abbey is also situated on Narragansett Bay, which required a comprehensive permitting process under the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. NE&C developed the irrigation water supply plan, which, after careful exploration, resulted in large quantities of excellent well water.

In addition to obtaining ISDS approvals, NE&C has also obtained permits from RIDEM Wetlands, Coastal Resource Management Council, Rhode Island Department of Transportation, RI Economic Development Council, Town of Portsmouth’s Zoning Board, Town of Portsmouth’s Planning Board, Army Corps of Engineers, RIPDES, Historical Society, and the Town of Portsmouth’s Water Authority.