Voters approve latest sewer upgrade and there are more proposals on the way

After voters at the Oct. 27 Town Meeting approved spending $300,000 to begin upgrading five air pump stations in Onset, the project became one of many sewer upgrades in recent years,  and there are more to come.

Sewer Department Director Scott Kraihanzel said the pump stations act as a “big kettle” by using air to push sewage to the Water Pollution Control Facility. Kraihanzel said the pump stations are old, outdated and might be “the last five on the planet.”

“We can’t get parts for them so we need to upgrade to standard wastewater pumping systems,” Kraihanzel said. “It will be a lot easier to maintain.”

The $300,000 will be used to get the project started. Kraihanzel said the money will be used to upgrade as many stations as possible and if it does not cover the total cost of the project, he would ask voters to approve additional funding at a future Town Meeting.

The town’s aging sewer system has seen several upgrades and repairs in recent years including a $36 million project to upgrade portions of the Wastewater Pollution Control Facility.

The scope of the project includes replacing the aging “headworks” and “clarifiers” at the facility and Kraihanzel said the project is about a year away from completion.

“The project is well underway,” Kraihanzel said. “Concrete structures are in place and one of the buildings is up and weather tight. It’s just waiting for heat and the project should be completed sometime next fall.”

According to Kraihanzel, the headworks handle all the wastewater before it reaches the facility. The headworks remove debris such as rags and grit so the water can be properly treated.

He added clarifiers separate solids, such as unwanted nutrients, from the water going through the facility using bacteria.

“What goes into the clarifier looks like chocolate milk and what comes out is crystal clear water,” he said.  

Prior to project approval, the facility had three clarifiers which are being replaced with two, new clarifiers that can each handle 1 million gallons of water a day.

And there are more projects on the horizon. Kraihanzel said he is currently working on a proposal to replace the aging sewer line on Minot Avenue to potentially expand sewering into West Wareham.

The project includes removing the pipe on Minot Avenue and replacing it with a newer pipe going up Sandwich Road. 

“There’s actually no sewer line that comes in the front gate of the Water Pollution Control Facility,” he said. “In fact there are two houses just at the end of our driveway that aren’t on sewer which is kind of a shame.”

Kraihanzel initially planned to repair the pipe on Minot Avenue but due to the pipe’s age, he said using it to expand sewering into West Wareham was not an option.

“The original project was only meant to repair a problem but I’d rather not just repair but look towards the future,” he said. “It kind of kills two birds with one stone.”

While there is no estimated cost yet, Kraihanzel said he is aiming to bring the proposal in front of voters at the Spring 2026 Town Meeting.