Opinion: Sewer fixes don’t have to cost homeowners

Mar 9, 2023
March 9, 2023
 
To the Editor:
 
This letter is in reference to the article “$36 million wastewater plant loan goes to Town Meeting, but who pays, and how?” that Wes Cipolla wrote in the Thursday, Feb. 23 edition of Wareham Week.
 
I believe, on good authority, that the major part of the problem emanates from the broken pipe on Wankinquoah Ave. The gravity sewer line has been a problem for a few years now, and it could have been fixed without any expense to the homeowners.  
 
Fixing this sewer line is rather easy, except for the fact that it is close to sea level. However, it can be done by someone that has experience in fixing sewer lines that are submerged. The Wareham Water Department may be helpful in this situation, or one of the many local contractors in town. 
 
Once this is repaired, it would be up to the Sewer Department to adopt a preventative maintenance jetting routine of poorly-pitched sewer lines to avoid future occurrences. (There should already be a preventive maintenance plan in place).
 
It would behoove the Select Board to ask Water Pollution Control Facility Director Guy Campinha for those maintenance logs before approving any more money being spent in that area of town.  
 
Hopefully, the pump stations have been maintained and the town doesn't have to incur any further expense to replace that equipment as well. There is technology available that could be used to repair that sewer line without digging it up.
 
Sonia Maria Silva