Residents Advised Not To Wait On Sewer Connections

ORLEANS – Construction on the third phase of town sewering is still more than a year away from getting started. But town officials last week left attendees of an informational meeting on the upcoming sewer work with a piece of advice.

Don’t wait to reach out to engineers and contractors to make your sewer connection.

There are approximately 230 properties that will be required to abandon their existing Title 5 septic systems and tie into town sewer in phase three, which covers the areas of Crystal Lake, Pilgrim Lake, Areys Pond and Lonnie’s Pond. The project area also includes an additional 30 properties that the town has the option of going out to bid on separately for inclusion in the third phase of work.

An article is due to come before voters at May’s annual town meeting seeking approximately $40 million to fund phase three sewer construction. That funding comes on the heels of $950,000 approved at the special town meeting in October to fund the final design of the sewer area.

A timetable presented during the Feb. 4 informational meeting showed that with approval of the construction funding in May, the town would go out to bid for a contractor to do the work in April 2026, with work to begin that June. Construction would be "substantially completed” in late 2028, after which residents in the sewer area will receive a notice from the town to proceed with their connections.

That may seem a long way out, but members of the wastewater management advisory committee cautioned that with engineers and contractors still in high demand for sewer connections, it’s best to reach out sooner than later.

“This is a good time actually to line this up,” said Kevin Galligan, who chairs the wastewater advisory panel.

Residents must hire an engineer to design their specific connection from their property to the sewer main on their street, as well as a contractor to perform the connection. But the demand for those services has created a backlog, with many engineers and contractors already booked out months in advance. The backlog was such that the town extended its one-year connection deadline for property owners in the phase one sewer area downtown a year to March 2025.

As construction on the second phase of sewering in the area of Meetinghouse Pond nears completion, residents in the phase two area will soon receive their notices to connect. And Orleans isn’t the only town seeking professionals to make sewer connections, Galligan said, noting that towns including Dennis and Yarmouth are also undertaking sewer construction.

“As soon as you can connect, the better,” said Judith Bruce of the committee. Tim Harrison of AECOM, the town’s wastewater consultant, said that the earliest that property owners will be able to connect to sewer in phase three is August 2026.

The committee fielded a number of questions from residents about what they should expect their connection to cost and how they might be able to finance it. While some in attendance asked for a ballpark figure, officials said an estimate is hard to pinpoint, noting that the cost is specific to each property and the particular work involved with making each connection.

“You really need to talk to an engineer to find that out,” Bruce said.

Options are available to help residents finance their connections, including the county’s AquiFund program, through which eligible property owners can qualify for loans to help subsidize the cost of their connections with interest rates between zero and 2 percent. Eligible applicants must own a year-round single-family home that is their primary residence, must not use the property as a place of business with exception of a home office, and must earn less than 120 percent of the area median income in Barnstable County.

John Nelson, the town’s sewer program coordinator, said the county will consider AquiFund applications from property owners who have received their notice to connect from the town.

But there could be additional costs for those property owners who must use a grinder pump to connect to the sewer system. The pumps are used at low-lying properties that cannot connect directly into the gravity sewer main servicing their street.

According to numbers provided by the town, there are 197 properties in the phase three area that will require grinder pumps. Harrison estimated that the pumps, which are buried underground on properties, cost between $5,000 and $6,000 on the low end.

One attendee at last week’s meeting asked if there was an option for using one large pump to service all the properties on a street or neighborhood. Harrison said that a few pumping stations will be built to help move effluent through to the wastewater treatment facility, but there are no plans to build more.

“Because they cost millions of dollars to build,” he said.

George Meservey, the town’s director of planning and community development, recently had his home in Chatham connected to town sewer. He said that including the cost of his grinder pump, his connection cost approximately $37,000. But through the AquiFund, he said he was able to spread the cost of the work over the next 30 years at low interest.

“So it got me down to $160 a month to pay for my sewer connection,” he said.

Officials said last week that property owners might also be able to work together to try and find an engineer and contractor that would be willing to service everyone who needs to connect in their neighborhood.

Meanwhile, a cluster of inland properties in the project area that Harrison referred to as “the donut hole” will not need to connect to sewer. That’s because oysters are already being used to help reduce nitrogen levels in Lonnie’s Pond. Harrison said that those properties are “very far out” from being brought onto the sewer.

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com