Town meeting is approaching, and it will be asked to vote on spending $36 million for sewer repairs. The Wareham Week went looking for the answers to some common questions in preparation for that vote. 

What needs repair?

Most of the equipment at the sewer plant is nearing its life expectancy, said Sara Greenberg, a consultant with the firm GHD. 

As far back as 2015, Wareham had consultants evaluate the plant's equipment and to see what is most in need of repair. The headworks and clarifiers consistently topped the list. 

The headworks are the first process in the treatment facility. They get the most wear and tear, and anything they don't catch goes on to cause further problems and more maintenance down the line, Greenberg said. 

She added that the clarifiers don't meet current design standards, are well past their life expectancy and are starting to fail. 

What happens if they fail?

"If Wareham's wastewater treatment plant fails, that's environmentally a terrible outcome," said Korrin Petersen, vice president of clean water advocacy with the Buzzards Bay Coalition. 

Every part of the wastewater treatment process works together, and if a part near the start fails, it will make things fail later on, said Petersen. 

That ends up with untreated sewage going into the Agawam River. 

"Two really bad things happen at that point: you're putting too much pollution into a river that already has pollution, and you've violated your permit, and so the EPA will hold the town accountable," Petersen said. 

Is it a temporary fix?

Wareham will need to do more sewering in the near future to meet increasing demand, said Petersen. 

Even so, the repairs aren't a “Band-Aid,” but a foundation for further growth, said Greenberg. 

She added that while the town is still finalizing the Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan for the plant, the repairs will fit into that plan and the town's wastewater future. 

"In replacing [old equipment], you can bring it up to an engineering standard where you're investing into the future of the wastewater treatment facility in order to accommodate additional flows," said Petersen. 

What will it cost?

The Sewer Commission is asking for permission to borrow up to $36 million. 

Not all of that will need to be paid back by Wareham sewer users, according to Greenberg. She said that the state will forgive a minimum of 10% of its loan — as long as Wareham gets its funding application in by the end of October — and there will be a 17% contribution from the town of Bourne, which also uses Wareham's sewer plant.

After everything, the sewer commissioners estimate that it will cost each user an additional $46 per year, starting when the loan begins to be paid off in 2027. 

What other options are there?

Norma Scoggin, chair of the Finance Committee, suggested building a new plant instead of refurbishing the old, in a conversation with Sewer Commissioner Bernie Pigeon. 

Scoggin brought up the idea to dismiss it: after hearing from Pigeon that a new plant would likely take six to eight years to build, she emphasized that the town would need to keep the old facility running — and make all necessary repairs — during that time. 

The town keeps putting the repairs off on the idea that it will find a cheaper way to do it, Scoggin added. "Every time we put something off it comes back to bite us."

What else needs to happen?

Past the headworks and clarifiers repairs, the town will need to address the other parts of the plant that need repair, as well as expand the plant to address additional flows. The town currently has a moratorium on new sewer connections, and is facing regulations that will require more sewer to be added — both of which will require upgrades to the sewer flow. 

Exact details for these plans aren't yet settled, but the Buzzards Bay Coalition did a study in 2022 of one of them: expansion of the wastewater treatment plant to handle 3.5 million gallons a day of sewage, and relocation of the plant's outfall pipe to the Cape Cod Canal. 

In the coalition's analysis — an analysis which includes the $36 million repair to the headworks and clarifiers — the entire project would cost $148.5 million. With other communities splitting the costs, like Bourne and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the cost for Wareham residents came out at $87.6 million.