Saugus cries foul over sewer line break

SAUGUS – Residents and business owners in Saugus Center knew something had run afoul Sunday by the plumbing backups suffered by many and the odor suffered by all.A sewer pipe buried nearly eight feet under the sidewalk broke open after a catch basin shifted and dropped on the aged line. The result was sewer discharge and its accompanying smell.Town Manager Andrew Bisignani strode across Saugus Center Wednesday to peer into the huge hole workers had dug just past Guy’s Liquor. He said phone calls began coming in Sunday with complaints regarding backed up plumbing and the decidedly unpleasant smell.”Services were affected for the businesses in the area,” he said, indicating Eastern Bank, Park Press and others. “They didn’t lose it but there were back ups and flushes that didn’t go anywhere.”The project did slow traffic through Saugus Center but did not close the roadway.Public Works Superintendent Joseph Attubato said once workers pinpointed the problem they opened up the street to repair the line but discovered they would have to deal with the entire catch basin as well.He estimated the sewer line was circa 1920 and noted the pipeline was unusually deep. Some years after the pipe was laid, someone had dropped a catch basin a little too close. The ensuing years caused the basin to shift and Sunday it dropped onto the old line, snapping it.”We had to move and fix that,” he said. “That will be finished up (Wednesday) then we’ll close up the hole and hot top it Thursday.”The town has been working to reline the old sewer lines per order of an Administrative Consent Order handed down by the Department of Public nearly four years ago. The ACO required the town to rehab its entire sewer system. The project is expected to take 10 years and is about one-third completed.