Select Board Approves Submittal Of Amended Wastewater Plan

ORLEANS – The town will submit an amended comprehensive wastewater master plan to the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency for consideration by the end of the month.

The select board on Nov. 29 voted in support of going ahead with the amended plan, which proposes to stretch future sewering efforts across 16 phases instead of the six originally planned.

Sewering is being pursued as the town’s primary way of reducing the amount of nitrogen entering the town’s waterways. Title 5 septic systems are among the biggest contributors to nitrogen loading locally. By abandoning septic systems and tying into town sewer, wastewater is treated through the town’s new treatment facility on Overland Way, thereby keeping nitrogen out of the groundwater.

Approximately 1,100 customers downtown have until March to connect to the sewer system, while construction began this summer on the second phase of sewering in the Meetinghouse Pond area. Plans are currently in the works to connect approximately 300 more properties to the sewer in the areas of Pilgrim Lake, Crystal Lake, Arey’s Pond and Lonnie’s Pond.

Kevin Galligan of the select board, who also chairs the wastewater management advisory committee, said the advisory committee has been working since July on amending the existing plan, which was approved in 2010.

Galligan said with more phases, the town can take a more “measured” approach to funding its sewering initiatives alongside other long-term capital projects, among them a new library, fire station and potentially a new elementary school.

“It allows for a more measured investment to deal with debt drop off and new debt, along with recognizing the other capital needs the town has,” he said.

The new phasing would also allow the town to better prioritize areas to sewer based on the need, and Galligan said town officials can rearrange and reprioritize phases as needed simply by notifying the state.

The scope of work will not change if the amended plan is approved, Galligan said. When complete, sewers will be available to approximately 60 percent of the town.

But the amended plan would extend the project’s overall time frame. In a presentation to the select board, Tim Harrison of AECOM said each phase is expected to take three years from concept to completion, with all work anticipated to be completed in 2067. That would also require an expansion of the new wastewater treatment facility to allow for additional capacity sometime in the late 2030s.

“Ultimately after implementation of all 16 phases, we would anticipate that all the nitrogen and nutrient removal needs of the town will be met,” he said.

The bulk of the necessary nitrogen removal in town, more than half, will be addressed through the first three phases of sewer work, Harrison told the select board.

“Beyond that, you can see that the next several phases are definitely going to be hitting Pleasant Bay [total maximum daily load] requirements and bringing the town’s obligations down there as quickly as we can,” he said.

The amended plan comes in the wake of new Title 5 regulations put forth by Mass DEP in July. The new regulations require all property owners in town to update their existing Title 5 systems within five years unless the town applies for a watershed permit from the agency. Orleans is in the process of applying for the permit.

As a member of the four-town Pleasant Bay Alliance alongside Chatham, Harwich and Eastham, Orleans already has a watershed permit in place with Mass DEP for regulating nitrogen loading in the bay. What remains to be seen is how other watersheds — including Rock Harbor, the Nauset Estuary and the Namskaket Marsh — will be addressed. Mass DEP has yet to assign TMDLs to those watersheds or designate them as “nitrogen sensitive areas.”

But Galligan said that’s where the flexibility of the amended wastewater plan comes into play.

“DEP is not telling us that they’re going to be pushing for that,” he said of cleanup in Rock Harbor, Nauset Estuary and Namskaket. “So why push urgency of capital when we don’t have the pressure? The only pressure we have right now is in Pleasant Bay, so we’re going to focus on that.”

The amended plan also addresses alternatives to treating nitrogen apart from sewering. The town has an ongoing aquaculture pilot program in Lonnie’s Pond, while another pilot program testing permeable barriers is ongoing at Nauset Regional Middle School.

“So those remain active options for the town,” Harrison said.

Mass DEP has yet to weigh in on whether or not oystering and other aquaculture efforts such as those in Lonnie’s Pond will count toward the town’s nitrogen reduction efforts. Select Board member Mefford Runyon asked if there’s been any feedback from the state on the status of the town’s pilot program.

“It really is burned in as an assumption in the plan that we’re going to continue to take credit [for aquaculture] for the duration,” Galligan said.

The town has committed $89 million to sewering to date through the first two phases, including $60 million downtown and $29 million for Meetinghouse Pond. As with those phases, property owners will continue to be assessed betterments to help cover the cost of future phases of sewering. Property owners have the option of paying their betterments in a lump sum or financing the cost over a period of 30 years with interest capped at 2 percent.

The town will also continue to utilize other funding options at their disposal to finance sewering efforts. Those include the state revolving fund, the Cape and Islands water protection fund and short-term rental tax revenue. The town also has a wastewater stabilization fund that generates $1.8 million annually.

The town has had pre-filing meetings with Mass DEP, MEPA and the Cape Cod Commission. Galligan said the amended plan is being looked at by MEPA as a “full build,” and that any future changes to the plan once approved should be minor.

“This is the last big ACWMP Orleans may ever have to do, hopefully,” Galligan said.

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com