Town officials agree more communication is necessary between town/municipal boards in order to address the sewage needs of the town at the Sewer Commission’s workshop Thursday, Aug. 10.

GHD Consultant Marc Drainville said as the commission and consultants develop the Wastewater Management Plan, a “needs assessment” has to be completed in order to identify current and future sewer demands.

Sewer Commission Chair Bernie Pigeon said he invited town officials involved with the planning of Wareham’s future to have a discussion “and it is our hope to gain some knowledge as to what impact those plans will have on our system, and we can include those things within our strategic projections.”

According to Drainville, the first two steps in addressing sewer needs is to identify how much wastewater is currently going into the plant as well as the total remaining gallons that have been committed to developers.

Planning Board Chair Michael King said an issue the commission should be aware of are properties that once had sewer hookups to single-family homes are being replaced by multi-family units, which can put a “strain” on the system.

“We're seeing more and more high density plans come before us where there was once one home and now they're proposing 10,” King said.

He said a solution to the strain this could cause is to incorporate the commission in the planning process.

“If we don't know what we don't know, then it's hard for us to understand how we're going to properly permit the projects,” King added.

Pigeon said the commission has not been involved due to the town’s bylaws and a change may be necessary to rectify this issue.

Redevelopment Authority Chair Dan Butler said a new, refined version of the Urban Renewal Plan has been received, which lays out goals to have more development in Wareham village.

“The goal is to revitalize, reinvigorate and renew Wareham village,” Butler said. “That would include more residential units and preferably more commercial units.”

However, he said the challenge the Redevelopment Authority faces is the moratorium on new sewer hookups and the plant’s capacity issues.

Butler said since A.D. Makepeace announced it would no longer be developing in Wareham, he has gone and spoken with the company’s CEO, James Kane.

Among a few reasons Kane gave Butler, Kane emphasized the “most important” reason being sewer.

Butler said, “[Kane] claimed to me that until we lick the sewage problem — until we resolve the issue in terms of sewage, liability, resiliency, capacity — his firm at least, saw no future in investing further in development within Wareham.”

He added, “I asked him if he thought that would be the case for other developers, and I mentioned that we were working on the Urban Renewal Plan for Wareham village — he said, ‘Good luck.’”

Drainville said population projections as well as housing and economic needs are also part of the management plan’s assessment.

Butler said in terms of other developments that could affect sewer, the nail factory project will soon break ground and will most likely be multi-family residential units.

There has also been some discussion of the return of the commuter rail in Wareham, Butler added. 

Director of Planning and Community Development Ken Buckland said there are some residential development requirements for communities with a commuter rail.

According to mass.gov, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority communities “shall have at least one zoning district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right and meets other criteria set forth in the statute.”

Buckland said Wareham would need approximately 1,200 residential units within a mile radius of the train station.

Searching for a solution to these capacity issues, the Sewer Commission has considered options for increasing the sewage plant’s outfall, Drainville said.

He said the commission has considered increasing current output in the river, adding another outfall location at the canal and groundwater disposal.

Drainville added when discussing exploring these options, groundwater disposal came most highly recommended based on Warehm’s needs.

He said it's common, but limited to specific locations to avoid interference with drinking water. 

He said the commission has been identifying locations to consider, including the already existing disposal site used by MassMaritime Academy.

Director of the Water Pollution Control Facility Guy Campinha said, “We have a time crunch. Groundwater gives us that ability to meet that time crunch, and so it may be a good beginning.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, Campinha said if the growth of the town economically is dependent on the function of the sewer system, then solving these wastewater problems should be a goal for everyone.

“The bottom line is: As a town, we have a major issue and we've got to solve it,” he said.

Pigeon said, “You're right — it is a town problem — and they have given us the responsibility of trying to solve it and advising them as such.”

He added, “Through his workshop, I think we gain an awareness of how everything affects other departments and what their needs are, and it all comes down to us as far as sewerage is concerned.”