In presenting to the Marion Select Board and the public on Monday night at the Music Hall, Kent Nichols Jr. of Weston & Sampson, Inc. took a deeper dive into Marion’s 20-year, Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP), engaged questions, and left the town’s leadership with a lot to think about.
Whether or not Marion ties into a regional sewer system centered in Wareham, there are still other great challenges facing the town as Nichols pointed out 900 unsewered sites in Marion, one third of which are developed properties.
The Select Board took no action on Monday’s meeting, an informational session that is part of a process including public input. The Buzzards Bay Coalition also has questions about a potential regionalization that will enter the mix. After gathering the information shared on Monday, the board will review and seek another meeting with Nichols to further check off on details that may influence forthcoming decisions.
The inherited infrastructural challenges faced by the Select Board, town administrator, Finance director, Department of Public Works and residents took decades to form.
As Marion confronts the 21st century, its leaders are taking stock of the capacity and current usage of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) based at Benson Brook.
According to the presentation made by Weston & Sampson, permitted discharge of the NPDES is an average daily flow of 588,000 gallons per day; the facility has a peak capacity of 1,100,000 gallons per day. The lagoon system on site handles wet-weather flow.
Permitted discharge includes nitrogen, phosphorus and metals. Ongoing improvements at the site include the recent relining of Lagoon No. 1, U.V. disinfection and filtration.
The facility needs modernization related to its condition and technology. It has assorted other needs relating to capacity, regulatory and permit matters, along with sustainability where it concerns resiliency, efficiency and safety.
Nichols broke those needs down to “big picture” and “specific” needs.
Identifying two major elements as pipelines and pump stations, Nichols discussed a graphic displaying a breakdown of Marion’s eight pump stations, the oldest of which is 60 years old (Silvershell.) Three other stations, Front Street (though it was updated in 2005), Creek Road and Point Road, are 50 years old, while Parkway Lane is 35 years old, Oakdale Avenue is 30, Stoney Run 25 and Little Neck 10.
Serving 1,700 properties, the Front Street pump station handles more than half of the town’s sewer users. Creek Road and Silvershell handle 500 properties each.
This is the third year of Marion’s 10-year mitigation program for Inflow and Infiltration (I/I); the town spent $200,000 in 2021. I/I work has been prioritized in three categories: known problem areas, village-area sewers and Flood Zone areas.
Other collection-system and pump-station needs include policy for grinder pumps and private sewers, and system needs addressing modernization and resiliency.
Planting Island, Lower Sippican Neck, Upper Front Street, Aucoot Creek and River Road/Wareham Street (Route 6) are considered “high priority” unsewered areas. Lower Mill Street, County Road and Wings Cove/Piney Point fall into medium priority, and Delano Road/Weweantic River, Allens Point/Harbor East and Converse Point are considered low-priority unsewered areas.
Sewer extension is the preferred alternative for: Planting Island, Lower Sippican Neck, Aucoot Creek, and River Road/Wareham Street (Route 6), Lower Mill Street, and Wings Cove/Piney Point. An enhanced, on-site program is the preferred alternative for: Upper Front Street, County Road, Delano Road/Weweantic River, Allens Point/Harbor East and Converse Point.
In mapping out options, Weston & Sampson offered five basic alternatives varying in capital costs and annual impact and 20-year worth.
The capital cost of regionalization with Wareham is estimated at $76,000,000 with an annual cost impact of $1,480,000 and a 20-year present worth of $98,000,000. Weston & Sampson asks the public if considering treatment and the Marion WPCF, does the town prefer local options to regional despite the higher costs.
That was just one of several questions posed by the engineering consultant to get a read on what homeowners in Marion are thinking as a major infrastructural plan is contemplated.
Resident Barry Gaffey joined the meeting via Zoom and asked Department of Public Works Director Nathaniel Munafo about grinder-pump replacements. Gaffey said he had heard a rumor that the replacements for the 14-year-old grinder pumps would not fit the existing tank, driving the replacement cost upwards from $3,000 to $12,000, but Munafo said that the drop-in replacement pump is an exact fit and that the DPW has already been installing them.
Fielding subsequent questions from Gaffey about conflicting cost estimates on outflow projects, Nichols said technologies are different so the cost estimates are different.
The Marion Select Board will next meet on Thursday, June 2, at 3:00 pm via Zoom to hold a public hearing on a complaint regarding a dog. The next regular meeting of the board is scheduled for Tuesday, June 7, at 6:00 pm at the Music Hall.
Marion Select Board
By Mick Colageo