For years, the Anheuser-Busch brewery on Daniel Webster Highway sent the town treatment plant something besides volume. The brewery used magnesium hydroxide in its process, and that wastewater carried a lot of alkalinity with it. Merrimack Chief Operator Bob Bishop described the effect at the August 20, 2026 Town Council meeting. The plant's nitrification process converts ammonia to nitrogen gas, and that process naturally pushes pH down. For years, the brewery's discharge pushed it back up.
The brewery closed at the end of January 2026, according to PennLive, and that buffering stopped with it. The plant now adds sodium bicarbonate and sodium hydroxide to keep its effluent between 6.5 and 8, the pH range its federal discharge permit requires. That matters on a stretch of the Merrimack River that is already considered impaired for pH.
Most coverage of the closing has focused on property taxes and the September sale. The sewer side gets less attention, but it matters more to anyone buying a Merrimack home on a town sewer line. Only the people who pay sewer bills pay for that fund.
A Fund With No Tax Dollars Behind It
On property taxes, the brewery site carried a town valuation of $35 million and generated more than $780,000 a year, according to NH Business Review. That loss is spread across every taxpayer in town.
Wastewater works differently. NH Business Review reported that the brewery was historically one of Merrimack's largest wastewater utility users, paying between $1 million and $1.5 million a year in utility fees. According to minutes of the January 14, 2026 budget session, Town Manager Paul Micali called the departure "the elephant in the room," put the brewery's contribution at roughly $1 million a year, and said "no tax dollars go towards the sewer fund as its all user-based fees."
So the general budget can't quietly absorb the shortfall. Whatever closes the gap has to come from inside the wastewater system: fund balance, new revenue, cost cuts, or the people still on the system.
What the Town Decided, Meeting by Meeting
The response so far has come in steps. Each one bought time or fixed a specific problem, and none has settled the bigger revenue question.
| Date | Body | Action on the wastewater side |
|---|---|---|
| January 14, 2026 | Town Council budget meeting | Kept the wastewater budget as is. Used enterprise fund balance to cover the brewery shortfall. Put off an offset plan until the budget cycle starting in July |
| July 10, 2026 | State of New Hampshire | HB 1275 approved, setting a PFAS framework for biosolids land application |
| August 20, 2026 | Town Council | Approved up to $250,000 for pH control equipment, $50,000 for compost bio-filter irrigation and $42,000 for the last 15 of 75 composting-bay blowers, all from the Sewer Infrastructure Capital Reserve Fund |
| September 24, 2026 | Town Council | Minutes put that capital reserve at $1.163 million during a discussion of roof work |
The January plan was openly a holding pattern. According to the meeting minutes, keeping the budget level would give staff time "to start looking at their options next year from the July period forward so they can make modifications for the following budget cycle." The town's posted sewer billing and rates page is the official place to check whether that review turns into a schedule change.
The Revenue Idea Waiting on Concord
One way to replace lost fees was to accept more outside sludge at the plant. Micali said in January that the town had to be careful, because composting legislation was pending at the State House. Without knowing what would pass, the town couldn't commit to that plan.
The bill became HB 1275, Chapter 298, approved July 10, 2026. The enacted version doesn't impose the sludge-spreading moratorium that had been proposed. It directs the state Department of Environmental Services to develop PFAS concentration standards for biosolids at land-application sites, start rulemaking by June 30, 2027, and restrict land application where those standards are exceeded beginning January 1, 2028.
This matters for Merrimack because of what its plant makes. The New Hampshire Bulletin reported in May 2026 that the facility turns biosolids into compost distributed as a turf soil amendment, not for agricultural use. The law that passed doesn't ban composting, but the standards it calls for are still being written. An outside-sludge strategy now depends on rules the state hasn't finished.
The Costs Rising on Their Own
Even before the brewery left, the wastewater budget had pressures of its own. In January, Assistant Director of Public Works Leo Gaudette described a modest increase in laboratory supplies for quarterly PFAS sampling under the plant's new discharge permit. He also noted electricity and natural gas increases that the town doesn't control. The chemicals line went up too, and he tied it directly to Anheuser-Busch "not being in the picture."
Gaudette also raised a more local item. Sewer fees tied to the Pennichuck Square pump station have risen almost 70% since 2022, and he said new homes being built in that area could affect rates further. Buyers looking at homes on that part of the system now have a public record showing those fees have already moved a lot.
The August pH project shows how one lost customer turns into capital spending. Bishop said the $250,000 job would be done mostly by plant staff. It covers a 1,600-gallon sodium hydroxide storage tank, feed pumps, a larger dry feeder to replace a 30-plus-year-old unit that can't keep up when flows are high, and links into the plant's SCADA monitoring system. According to the minutes, Bishop and Micali said the setup would be safe and would resolve the plant's outstanding permit violations. Sodium bicarbonate is baking soda, and the plant now adds it to do work the brewery's wastewater used to do.
Why the September Sale Doesn't Answer the Sewer Question
On September 1, 2026, the Union Leader reported that United Therapeutics had bought the former brewery property for $47.5 million. NH Business Review reported the price as $47 million a few days later and described a parcel of nearly 300 acres between Route 3 and the Merrimack River near the Nashua line.
The buyer is a biotechnology company that already runs a facility on Commercial Street in Manchester. NHBR reported it is expected to bring hundreds of high-paying jobs to the region. The same article said specific construction plans, designs and a redevelopment timeline have not been disclosed.
None of that says how much wastewater a future campus would send to the plant, what that water would contain, or when. Micali made the same point in January: without knowing what will go into the facility, the town chose to hold the budget steady instead of guessing. The Planning Board's September 15 minutes and October 20 agenda don't list the former brewery property.
Sewer Line or Septic Tank: Where This Lands for a Buyer
For a home on a private septic system, this is mostly background. The brewery's property tax loss affects every owner in town, but the wastewater fund's shortfall affects only properties that pay sewer bills.
For a sewer-connected home, the monthly cost carries an open question that the listing price doesn't show. Some questions worth raising during due diligence on a Merrimack property:
- Is the home on town sewer, and is it served by a pump station such as Pennichuck Square?
- What have the seller's recent sewer bills been, and has the rate changed since early 2026?
- Has the Town Council put a sewer rate change, rate study or enterprise fund update on a recent agenda?
- Has United Therapeutics filed plans for the former brewery site that describe water and wastewater use?
This post is general information about public decisions. It isn't legal, tax or financial advice, so confirm how utility costs affect your purchase with the right professional and the Town of Merrimack directly.
A Few Direct Answers
Did Merrimack raise sewer rates because of the brewery closing? None of the Town Council minutes from January, August or September 2026 records a rate increase. In January, the town chose to use enterprise fund balance and revisit its options in the budget cycle starting in July 2026.
Does the property tax rate cover the sewer gap? No. Micali said the sewer fund runs entirely on user fees.
Is the brewery's Biergarten still open? The brewery closed at the end of January 2026, and the property now belongs to United Therapeutics. Nashua Ink Link reported that the 2025 New Hampshire World Christmas Market was held on the Biergarten grounds. The market's own site lists the 2026 event for December 12 to 13 at Owl's Nest Resort in Thornton.
Questions like these come up when you buy or sell in Merrimack, and the Morgan Moves Team follows the town's public record so you can account for them before you make an offer or set a price. If you own a sewer-connected home in Merrimack and want to see how the market is pricing it right now, Request Your Free Home Valuation.
