Officials: Lack Of Progress In Sewer Connections Troubling

CHATHAM – The town has spent millions expanding the municipal sewer system, but fewer properties than expected are connecting, some officials are saying.

 “The numbers are not encouraging,” select board member Stuart Smith said at the board’s Jan. 13 meeting. The lack of progress may be slowing the reduction in nitrogen loading in coastal waterways — the main goals of installing sewers — as well as failing to provide the fees necessary to offset the cost of the operation of the wastewater management system, he said.

 “We spent millions of dollars on this infrastructure and we need people to hook up,” Smith said.

 Currently, there are 1,360 accounts on the town’s wastewater treatment system, according to Public Works Director Rob Faley. The original sewer system, installed in the 1960s mostly in the downtown area, had 652 connections. Since 2012, when the current expansion of the system began, 872 properties have applied to connect; 708 have completed installation. Another 164 remain pending, some going back as far as 13 years. The board of health has issued 823 orders to property owners to connect to the sewer, and as of Nov. 30, 473 have been completed.

 Another 187 connection orders will be issued early this year.

 The town’s approach has been measured, Faley said in a memo to the board, with steady progress toward the long-term goal of town-wide expansion of the system.

 Orders to connect to the sewer are issued by the board of health, he noted. According to the board’s mandatory sewer connection regulations, properties that receive connection orders are required to do so within one year. The board has the authority to defer the deadline if in the board’s opinion it would impose an “exceptional burden” on a property owner. Violations can be subject to fines of $200 per day.

 Connection requirements for properties that require grinder pumps had been deferred after the town agreed to pay for the devices. Regulations on reimbursement and other details on grinder pump installation are being finalized by the water and sewer advisory committee, said select board Chair Dean Nicastro. 

 He suggested that the grinder pump issue, the cost of connecting to the sewer and the difficulty in securing engineers and installers were contributing to the slow rate of property owners hooking up to the system.

 “It’s very difficult to even find people who can do the design and installation,” agreed Natural Resources Director Greg Berman. “It may be getting better, but it’s a concern.” The grinder pump moratorium also slowed down connection progress, he added.

 Connection costs are a significant issue for many homeowners, board member Shareen Davis said. 

 “We have to be sensitive to the reality of the cost of this,” she said. “A lot of towns are struggling with this.” Capewide, billions are being spent on sewer infrastructure and many homeowners, particularly those on fixed incomes, are struggling to pay for connections, she said.

 “You’re talking, for some people, in the tens of thousands of dollars,” she said. “In reality, that is unaffordable to some.”

 The town set up a $50,000 grant fund to help property owners pay for sewer connections, and the Barnstable County Cape Cod AquiFund provides zero or 2 percent interest loans for year-round property owners to tie their primary residence into municipal wastewater systems. 

With less than 800 connections since 2012, officials need to identify impediments keeping property owners from tying into the system, said board member Jeffrey Dykens. 

 “I think we need to stay on it with those types of creative incentives and just be aware that we may have to do more and more with respect to giving folks some assistance,” he said.

 In some cases, the lag time in properties connecting isn’t the owner’s fault. Faley said sewer installation on Meetinghouse Road, for instance, was completed a year ago, but documentation engineers need to design connections is not yet available. 

 Faley said a publication, “like an instruction manual,” is being prepared to send to property owners when sewers come to their neighborhoods. He said it will be brought before the select board before being sent out.

 The town also needs to keep in mind the goal of the sewer project, Dykens said.

 “This is a long-term thing,” he said. “I’m not making excuses, but it’s very complex and long-term.” The payoff down the road, he added, is that “we have bay scallops back in our waters.”