The Sewer Commissioners have begun to meet with the Wareham Fire District’s Water Department to discuss the possibility of charging for sewer based on usage rather than by Equivalent Dwelling Units.

Bernie Pigeon, Sewer Commission chair, said only 1% of towns in Massachusetts still charge sewer by Equivalent Dwelling Units. 

He said a change to usage-based fees would be more equitable as households with fewer individuals would not be charged the same as households with more people, who inevitably produce more wastewater.

At a Monday, Dec. 4 meeting, Andy Cunningham, operations supervisor for the Wareham Water Department, said, “It's not a new subject. In fact, it's a pretty old subject.”

Pigeon said back in 2015, a decision took place in favor of switching Wareham over to usage-based sewer rates.

However, he said this initiative must have been forgotten or overlooked during the transition of the Sewer Department from the Select Board to the now elected body, which occurred around the same time.

Pigeon said he wanted to start the dialogue back up and see what would need to be done in order to make this idea a reality.

Cunningham said his department takes a reading of its water meters twice a year and that data goes through his office and is then sent to the Northern Data Group to generate the water bills

The two departments agreed the next step would be to connect the Sewer Commission with Northern Data to see if the meter readings could be used in a separate program for sewage fees.

However, Cunningham reminded the Commissioners of the main problem his department has had with the usage-based sewer fees since it was first brought up approximately 20 years ago: irrigation.

Without a reduction or deduct meter, which measures irrigation water, or another way of measuring the amount of water used solely for irrigation, sewer users would be charged for it.

That would be hundreds to thousands of gallons sewer users would be charged for that is going into the soil not the Water Pollution Control Facility.

He said, “The Water Department wanted nothing to do with installing, maintaining, changing out, verifying accuracy or even ever looking or touching a reduction meter.”

“We have enough issues just dealing with our current meters,” Cunningham said, adding it could also be a liability for his department to deal with meters they do not own.

Pigeon said it would be “inappropriate” for the Sewer Commissions to have the Water Department do that additional work.

The Water Department and Sewer Commissions agreed irrigation and other issues related to this process will need to be discussed further and resolved in the future, but in the meantime, the Sewer Commissioners will begin a dialogue with the Northern Data Group.

Pigeon said the Commissioners will also connect with Onset Fire Districts Water Department when more of the details of the process are clear.