Town to map entire sewer system

Dec 11, 2020

The town’s sewer department is beginning an ambitious project to digitally map the entire sewer infrastructure — every manhole, every pipe, and every pumphouse — plus information about the capacity and current flow throughout the system. 

Guy Campinha, the director of Water Pollution Control, said at the Dec. 10 Sewer Commission meeting that the Buzzards Bay Coalition received a grant to model the sewer system for a cost of $30,000 to the town. 

“So we’ll have a complete handle and understanding of our sewer system, its strengths, its weaknesses, and what it will allow us to do in the future,” Campinha said.

Russ Kleekamp of GHD Engineering said that the model will allow the department to quickly understand the impact of any new flow from a proposed development.

Kleekamp said that the model would also be useful when considering expanding the sewer line to new areas. 

“We can see what our system can handle, and design it properly,” Campinha said. “Wherever we go, we’ll be able to see how it connects to our system and what’s the impact to the system.”

Kleekamp showed how the model can be overlaid on top of Google Earth, which allows users to quickly find a manhole or pipe and get data about that location: depth, capacity, available capacity, etc.

“It’s really a slick application,” Kleekamp said.

He noted that the project was originally estimated to cost $80,000, but the price has been brought down to $30,000 through grants and the use of interns. The commission approved the use of funds.