8/17/2010 SEWER COMMISSION Minutes

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emeful review of history reveals that The city's leadership began to realize a need for a mu- Provincetown,Mass.,not Plymouth Rock, nicipal sewer system as early as the 19508.Tourism was was the initial stopping place for the growing,and the number of summer visitors began to tax Pilgrims in November 1620,This small the existing point source system.However,no meaning- town at the tip of Cape Cod was home ful headway in the discussion was made until the 1990s, to America's first European settlers for approximately It was during this time that a sewer infrastructure study 5 weeks before they sailed across Cape Cod Bay to the revealed that 17%of Provincetown's properties were mainland and stepped ashore. not in compliance with the Massachusetts Department Located on the narrowest silver of land on Cape Cod, of Environmental Protection's Title 5 regulations.Title 5 Provincetown is today apopular resort area,Its population established minimum requirements for the subsurface of 3200 can swell to 50,000 in summer as visitors arrive to disposal of sanitary wastewater, enjoy the beaches and mild weather, Like many oceanside communities,Provincetown has The explosion of people each summer creates sig- a high water table,to order to meet Title 5 guidelines, nificant infrastructure issues.One of the most pressing many property owners installed septic systems.However, is sewer capacity.Since it was first a fishing village in the according to the guidelines,the septic systems had to be late 1600s,the town had relied on point source waste- elevated to allow 1.5 in(5 it)of separation between the water treatment,primarily cesspools,That changed in bottom of the soil absorption system and the maximum 2003,when Provincetown completed work on Phase 1 of groundwater elevation.As property owners upgraded a hybrid wastewater collection network that includes a their onsite systems to meet'ritle 5,more and more raised backbone vacuum system complemented by sections of leach fields began to appear across town.In 1994,the city low-pressure and gravity systems.The new system pro- responded with the passing of Article 17,which directed vides service to more than 500 homes and businesses. the town to develop a municipal sewer plan. The experience has been exceptional.There have been zero complaints,and the town gets frequent requests from Learning the System homeowners to join the collection network as residents The town's board of selectmen decided early that they hear from their neighbors about the benefits of the cen- did not want to be in the business of designing,installing, tralized system,Getting the city's first municipal sewer - and maintaining a municipal sewer system.Instead,they - - system took about 300 years,but by all accounts,it was opted for a design-build-operate(DBO)procurement worth the wait. process.Au important part of the successful DBO group's proposal was the use of vacuum sewers,something new Seaside Geology to this region. - Provincetown,with its crowded narrow streets and Vacuum sewer technology solved several significant collection of historic sites,is built on a sandbar.To the design and installation issues,The high groundwater table north is the Atlantic Ocean;to the south Is Cape Cod Bay. - beneath Cape Cod made excavation a troublesome problem. For approximately two centuries nearly everyone here Gravity lines would require deep trenches along the narrow, utilized a cesspool system,which worked well because of densely populated streets of Provincetown.Digging up the the excellent leaching characteristics of sand. streets would have been a logistical nightmare that would j{(tw A S Ip i� �l4i In I I k !i r nt tl d N t t J t51 IS to 1i!!!" UaCatlm r ti h P I 6azavt pf paten 1- " ddi( " "ildN i,Systems 1 ,rK 9 i Tk uvin v„IlaRitme}.m{n et lfrem i 1 Wark �. , 'l at,Intake Yai.n wt �' VasummStpHan a iecNon reek WE&T WWW.WEP.0R G/NIACAZINF, 02007 water Environment&Technotogy All rtghts reserved