Meetings, in the new reality imposed on the globe by COVID-19, are now a virtual reality, so to speak. The Mattapoisett Water and Sewer met on April 1 via conference calls. Present were Chairman Daniel Chase, legal consultant Blair Bailey, along with commissioners Al Mennino and Dana Barrows.
Also present was Water and Sewer Superintendent Henri Renauld. During the course of his updates on various ongoing projects, Renauld said, due to the importance of assuring worker safety and the need to have healthy employees ready at all times, he has divided the staff into teams. Renauld explained that the departments’ workforce has been split into two teams working on a rotating schedule to try and ensure as much physical separation and viability as possible.
“If one person in a team gets sick, the entire team has to be quarantined,” he said. He stated that many people are working from home. In a follow-up, Renauld told The Wanderer that he has tried to duplicate each position, setting up in-field teams but also providing for his replacement in the event he becomes ill. He said that retired superintendent Nick Nicholson would replace him if necessary. Office staff is also working on a rotating schedule, he said.
Renauld wanted to assure the public that the water supply is safe and that twice-monthly testing is performed. He said that people do not need to buy bottled water. He told the commissioners that the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency uses a checklist for ensuring the safety of the public water supply. Mattapoisett’s water department and the Mattapoisett River Valley aquifer serves parts of Marion and Rochester, as well as Fairhaven and Mattapoisett. “There is no indication the pathogen can be transmitted in the drinking water,” he said. “I’m also having weekly conference calls with the EPA.”
A bigger issue, Renauld said, was the flushing of various types of hygiene wipes into the municipal sewer system. He said private septic systems would also be impacted.
“Every time there is a clog, we’ve got to put our staff in a trench.” While it is unlikely any pathogen could survive in the sewer system, Renauld said emergency maintenance situations put the worker in harm’s way.
“Even if the package says the wipe can be flushed, don’t do it,” Renauld urged the public.
In other business, Renauld updated the commissioners on the cost estimates for expanding the public sewer system from Route 6 north along North Street to the intersection with Industrial Drive.
Renauld said that preliminary estimates found that each household would face paying $47,000 in betterment fees. When asked, he said that several years ago the estimate had been $40,000. “The size of the project is the problem,” he said. There simply aren’t enough residences to share the cost, he said. Too few homes would mean a heavy financial burden to each household in the expansion zone.
The commissioners expressed their dismay at the high estimate, with Chase saying, “I’m appalled.”
“It would be hard to present that to the residents,” Renauld stated.
Barrows said, “Don’t even bother – that kind of money is obscene.”
Renauld concurred saying, “Due to inflation, I don’t think the project is economical for the residents.”
Barrows asked if another estimate using a different engineering group would be advisable before presenting anything to the public. Renauld said he would follow-up on that idea. Barrows said, “We need due diligence.”
Chase said he wanted to focus on the next big sewer project, Pease’s Point, as the commissioners agreed to table further discussion on North Street sewer expansion at this time.
Renauld also updated the commission on the Eel Pond sewer project, saying that grant monies would soon be released to cover some of the initial outlay that the town was required to fund, and that some environmental engineering studies completed for Phase 1b of the bike path could be used to satisfy some of the studies required by Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Water and Sewer Department had not been scheduled at press time.
Mattapoisett Water and Sewer Commission
By Marilou Newell