OXFORD — An $18.6 million sewage treatment plant and collection systems is planned at the Welchville Dam to handle waste from more businesses expected along the Route 26 corridor, Town Manager Michael Chammings said.

With Oxford Casino opening soon and businesses such as hotels and restaurants eying the corridor in the southern end of town, having a sewage system that doesn’t require new businesses to build their own will make the corridor more attractive, Chammings said.

The Welchville site was one of several options in a feasibility study by the firm Woodard and Curran. The dam is on the Little Androscoggin River near the intersection of Routes 26 and 121.

Other options included connecting to the Paris Utility District through Oxford Street and rehabilitating the Robinson Mill in Oxford village as a treatment facility.

The Paris Utility District, which currently handles sewage from Oxford transported in trucks, is several miles from the Route 26 district and would require upgraded pumps to reach the Paris facility. The Paris facility could eventually reach capacity as Oxford’s sewage waste load grows.

Rehabilitating the mill on King Street at the outlet of Thompson Lake would have been as expensive as building the new treatment station, the report said.

Building the treatment plant and collection systems is projected to cost $18.6 million. The mill is in the tax incentive financing zone, and the town plans to take out low-interest loans and pay them down with TIF funds.

Woodard and Curran is preparing reports for the state.

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