ORANGE – The Orange Wastewater Treatment Facility has new leadership for the first time in 40 years.

Oscar L. Rodriguez took over as chief operator for Edward Billiel Jr. on July 1 and will oversee the department’s budgeting, operations and day-to-day tasks as well as the massive undertaking of replacing gravity sewer mains and water mains under North Main Street and a road reconstruction project in the same location.

“Working under Ed was great. He has a plethora of information, which is all stored in his elephant-like memory,” Rodriguez said this week. “He’s a very nice person.”

Attempts by the Greenfield Recorder to reach Billiel were unsuccessful.

Rodriguez, 38, said he was born in Northampton and raised primarily in Orange, where he still lives. He said he attended local schools and graduated from Ralph C. Mahar Regional School in 2003. He started working for the Orange Wastewater Department in October, having previously done contracting work for facilities across western Massachusetts. He also worked for Amherst and then at the wastewater plant at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Concord for most of his career.

“It’s really just a nice plant to oversee,” he said of the Orange facility. “Not too big, not too small. A perfect fit. It’s a very nice plant. It’s big enough.”

Rodriguez explained treated sewage is discharged from the facility directly into the Millers River. The facility’s responsibility is ensuring the river, which flows into the Connecticut River, does not get polluted.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.

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