Lynn sewer plan could cost $110M

LYNN – Finishing a nearly 20-year-old effort to reduce partially treated sewage releases into the ocean could cost $110 million – maybe more – according to a Water and Sewer Commission consultant.Anthony Omobono told commissioners the plan involves designing technology to “get stormwater physically out of the system.”Storm water runoff and sewage flow through a single underground pipe network throughout most of the city, except for East Lynn sections where separate storm drain and sewage drain pipes were installed in the 1990s and the last decade.Omobono said additional work is needed in West Lynn neighborhoods where heavy rains cause flooding and downtown sections of the city where storm water and sewage still drain through a single pipe network.?We need to make sure we do it in the right areas,” Omobono, a consultant for the international engineering firm CH2MHill, said.It has been 10 years since Water and Sewer executives mapped out long-term storm and sewer separation plans for review by state and federal officials. Separating storm water and sewage even in parts of the city has sharply reduced discharges of partially treated sewage into the ocean over the last several years, according to commission statistics.The commission logged 27 overflow discharges in 2006 – four in 2010 and two in 2011. The commission uses a chemical and mechanical process to separate sewage, but the Commercial Street treatment complex reaches or exceeds its 25 million gallons per day treatment capacity during heavy rains.Aside from installing sewerage connections at Bowler Street and Sanderson Avenue in 2008, the commission has done comparably little overflow prevention work since 2004 when it fired former contractor USFilter over a performance guarantee dispute.Omobono told commissioners on April 14 that a key element of the 2004 sewer separation plan – installing a giant “consolidation conduit” near the Lynnway – is not included in updated separation planning. He said “more aggressive” separation methods are on the drawing board to replace the need for the storage tank.The price tag for the 2004 plan was $65 million. Adjusted for 10 years of inflation, Omobono said the plan?s cost is $95 million.Commissioner David Ellis said not enough separation planning has occurred since 2004. A former West Lynn City Council member who served on the commission previously, Ellis said West Lynn needs separation to help end flooding problems.?It?s got to move quicker,” Ellis said.At least two fellow councilors share Ellis? impatience. Council President Daniel Cahill and Ward 6 Councilor Peter Capano asked the commission to update councilors on West Lynn separation plans.?We are anxious to begin working together with the Commission to locate funding for completion of this project,” the pair wrote commissioners on April 14.