Meetinghouse Pond Sewer Work Nears Completition

ORLEANS – The second phase of sewering in the area of Meetinghouse Pond is nearly complete. But additional properties that were approved for inclusion in the second phase won’t be included.

During an informational meeting hosted by the wastewater management advisory committee July 28, Tim Harrison of the town’s wastewater consultant AECOM said that phase two construction is expected to be "substantially completed” by December. But that will not include the 28 additional properties in the area of Tides End Lane, Walker Road and Cedar Cove Road that voters authorized including in the project at last year’s annual town meeting.

Harrison said that the State Revolving Fund, which administers zero percent financing for municipal sewer projects, could not fund expansion of the phase two work as planned.

“Those are not part of the phase two construction,” he said of the properties. “Due to the timing, they’re not part of the phase three construction. But the advisory committee is considering them to be part of the phase four [sewer area].” Planning for phase four is expected to begin next year, Harrison said.

Approximately 400 properties will be connected to the sewer in the area of Meetinghouse Pond. Harrison said that as of Monday, all gravity pipes, low pressure pipes, laterals and water services have been installed in the project area, and that the majority of paving has been done.

Ongoing work includes the phase two pumping station behind town hall and upgrades to the wastewater treatment facility on Overland Way. The facility is being outfitted with new silencers in response to noise complaints from abutters. Final paving, meanwhile, is expected to be done in the fall, Harrison said.

“We need to wait 90-plus days from when the ground was last disturbed before we begin our final paving,” he said.

With construction set to be substantially completed by year’s end, it’s expected that property owners in phase two will begin receiving their notices to connect to sewer from the board of health by mail in January. Receipt of the letter “starts the clock” on the January 2027 deadline property that owners have to make connections, Harrison said.

Property owners must first hire an engineer to design their specific connection to the sewer system and then a contractor to do the work. 

The engineering plans will be sent to the advisory committee and AECOM, who will provide input and comments. With the plans are “tie cards,” which Harrison said are sketches engineers can use to determine where a property's sewer stub is in relation to the sewer main and lateral. Tie cards are expected to be available for the majority of properties in the coming months, he said.

“Based on those plans, then you can take those plans and basically go shopping for your contractor,” Harrison said.

The town website includes a list of project engineers that property owners can reach out to as they begin preparing their connections.

“Definitely do contact your engineers early,” Harrison said, cautioning that engineers and contractors will be in high demand as the January 2027 deadline nears.

The cost for a connection varies from property to property, but estimates provided at the July 28 meeting put the average total cost for a single-family home at between $10,000 and $20,000, or between $5,000 and $10,000 on the low end. The cost is significantly more for commercial properties, with estimates ranging from tens to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Low-lying properties will require the installation of a grinder pump to help force wastewater up into the sewer main at street level. Harrison said the town purchased pumps in bulk from a vendor, F.R. Mahoney, and that the cost of the pump typically is rolled into the overall contractor cost. Estimates put the cost of a pump from $7,000 to $15,000, depending on the model and size. 

While connections can be costly, there are options available to property owners to help finance their projects. The county’s Aquifund program offers loans with zero to 2 percent interest for owner-occupied single-family homes that serve as the owner’s primary residence. Properties could also qualify outside of that criteria at higher interest rates. More information is available at www.capecod.gov.

Local health departments may also be able to provide additional financial assistance to properties that qualify for Aquifund loans at zero percent financing.

“Definitely check with health and human services about the availability of those, but the general criteria is if you are approved for the zero percent Aquifund loan, then the town can consider the grant for you,” Harrison said.

Property owners also could be eligible for a state Title V tax credit of up to $18,000, Harrison noted. The credit applies to owner-occupied primary residences within the Pleasant Bay watershed.

Along with designing and carrying out a connection, property owners must also get rid of their existing Title V systems. In most cases, that involves removing the system and backfilling the remaining space with sand. 

As an alternative, “flowable fill,” which Harrison described as a “very weak concrete,” can also be used to backfill spaces left behind by an abandoned Title 5 system. But it’s an expensive alternative, noted Ombudsman Reggie Donahue. He said the difference in cost between flowable fill and sand can be “a factor of thousands of dollars.”

“Sand is cheaper,” said Kevin Galligan, who chairs the advisory committee.

And while the process calls for “abandoning” Title 5 systems, that doesn’t mean it has to be physically removed from the ground.

“You can leave it in place and just fill it with sand and be done,” said John Smith, the advisory committee’s representative from the board of health.

Some in attendance at the July 28 meeting raised questions about betterments, costs assessed to property owners who benefit from connecting into the new sewer system. Galligan said betterments will be determined based on a prior three-year water use average but said that the project has to be completed and final costs come in before the figures can be determined.

“We are still in the process of constructing this project,” he said. “We don’t know what the final construction costs are. We still have a pump station as you can see in the back here that is nowhere near complete. So it would be very risky for anyone, a public official especially, to put any numbers out. I’m not going there.”

Galligan said the issue of betterments will be the subject of a future meeting, likely sometime in the summer of 2027.