Concerns about the staggering costs of conventional sewers are springing up all over Cape Cod from Falmouth to Orleans. Barnstable residents successfully revolted against a hurry-up sewer plan last month because of its high costs, brushing aside the federal stimulus argument. Orleans has hired an independent consultant to review its sewer consultant's $250 million plan and now thinks it can save a great deal of money with an altered plan. Chatham is facing a minimum of $300 million in 2007 dollars to build a traditional sewer system. Falmouth estimates $500 million. Before Falmouth gets pressured into a solution that will drive families out of Falmouth, it appears as if the Town selectmen will take a very hard look at environmetally friendly alternatives that cost far less rather than rushing ahead with a very expensive enlargement of its existing sewer system.

The drive to reexamine wastewater solutions is being led by Third Barnstable state representative Matthew Patrick. Patrick's letter to the Falmouth Board of Selectmen can be read here. The consultant's report that Patrick criticizes was prepared by Stearns & Wheler, which has designed Chatham's conventionally expensive sewer system. Patrick says the high sewer costs will drive working families and families that have lived in Falmouth for generations out of Falmouth. For our previous report on Patrick's efforts, click here.

Debate over wastewater comes home
By John Basile
Wed Jul 15, 2009, 12:29 PM EDT

FALMOUTH -

Falmouth selectmen have not yet scheduled a discussion of State Rep. Matthew Patrick’s call for further study before going ahead with expensive plans to install sewers. But it’s likely they will.

Patrick is urging Falmouth to consider all alternatives before committing to hundreds of millions of dollars in sewer construction.

Patrick sent a letter to selectmen, the board of health and the conservation commission in which he said, “I am convinced that, at present, we are not giving sufficient consideration to viable alternative techniques.”

Patrick said many in Falmouth would be hard-pressed to pay the estimated $40,000 to $60,000 betterment fee that would be required to connect to sewers.

“Statisticsshow that real middle class income has been stagnant for the past decade. One need only consult with the Falmouth Service Center to find out that requests for free food have increased dramatically over that past two years,” Patrick wrote.

Selectman Brent Putnam said Patrick raised important questions that deserve discussion.

“Let’s look at alternatives and give this proper study,” Putnam said. He pointed out that the Massachusetts Estuaries Project model, which has provided much of the data used to determine the impact of nitrogen from septic systems on Falmouth waterways, might itself be flawed. He will ask Selectmen Chairwoman Mary Pat Flynn to place the issue on a future agenda.

Patrick said sewering Falmouth would cost $500 million or more, take more than a decade to complete and cost the town an estimated $6 million a year in maintenance. Town officials have cited lower figures for installation.

Patrick also raised the issue of fairness.
“Asking all residents in town to pay higher taxes to fund sewage treatment to homes closer to the water does not seem fair either. People living north of Route 28 will be asked to absorb a doubling or tripling of the property taxes and will not be connected to the sewer or will be delayed decades before connecting to the sewer. Funding a conventional sewage treatment system in Falmouth, or any other Cape community, is rife with problems and inequities.”

Patrick acknowledged in an interview on Tuesday that as a state representative he has no control over what the town does regarding sewers, but he said it is his responsibility to inform his district, which also includes Mashpee and sections of Osterville, Cotuit and Bourne, of the potential costs of sewering.

As of Tuesday, no reference to Patrick’s letter had been placed on an upcoming agenda.

Patrick is not alone raising concerns about the cost of sewers. Recently, the Barnstable Town Council shelved a plan after many residents complained about the cost. In Orleans, a committee assigned the task or reviewing the studies surrounding the planning for sewers, urged the town to slow down its plans to install up to $250 million worth of sewers. The Orleans committee questioned some of the findings of the Estuaries Project that measured the health of waterways.

Patrick urged Falmouth officials to re-examine the work of its consultant Stearns and Wheler. He also acknowledged that he is asking people to change their thinking abut such alternatives as composting toilets and urine diversion toilet systems.

“People will have to think about it in a different way, but to assume that they won’t is not fair to people,” Patrick said.

Patrick is urging Falmouth to hire an independent consultant, “to do a more complete study of the existing literature and give cost comparisons.” He also wants the town to form a blue ribbon panel “made up of some of the world’s foremost scientists in the field that live and work in our town,” to review the work that has been done. He also urged town officials to contribute to the Barnstable County Health Department’s study of alternatives wastewater treatment technologies.