SAUGUS — Town Manager Scott Crabtree is pleased to announce work will begin soon to rehabilitate a major sewer subsystem as part of an ongoing commitment to improve the town’s sewer infrastructure.
A comprehensive rehabilitation project is planned for sewer subsystem 2 that will involve the cleaning and lining of approximately 9,700 linear feet of sewer lines and spot repairs to remove excess water inflow and infiltration (I&I) in sewer subsystem 2. The sewer infrastructure improvements will take place in the areas of Central Street/Appleton Street, Lothrop Street/Riverbank Road, Hamilton Street/Roundhill Street, and Pearson Street/Jasper Street.
The purpose of this effort is to eliminate sources of water leaking into the sewer system that strain its capacity, can cause sanitary sewer overflows, and increase the town’s costs for transportation and treatment of these flows. The project will also improve the structural integrity of these areas.
As part of an Administrative Consent Order originally signed in 2005 to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows into the Saugus River, the Town, with its engineering consultants CDM Smith, identified nine subsystems that were prioritized in order to reduce the amount of I&I in the sewer system. With the consent order complete, the town has maintained this positive momentum by rehabilitating more sewer subsystems that were also identified in the study to remove I&I sources.
Contractors have lined approximately 210,000 linear feet of sewers in town, rehabilitated 1,600 manholes, and removed approximately 950 private water inflow sources from the sewer system.
Work on sewer subsystem 2 is anticipated to begin in early August. The project is expected to be completed around mid-December.
General work hours will be 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with extended hours possible for portions of the work. Sewer usage to some homes will be restricted during working hours. Notices will be distributed to impacted residents 72 hours in advance and again 24 hours in advance, with an additional notice provided once sewer service is restored.
The community can expect some traffic impact in the work zones to allow the construction efforts to safely proceed. Saugus Police Department details will be assigned to the work areas to handle any traffic issues or detours.
The Town thanks residents in advance for their patience and cooperation during this construction project that will result in better quality and more reliable sewer infrastructure for the community.
“It’s important that the town maintain its commitment to sewer infrastructure upgrades to ease the burden that excess inflow and infiltration places on our aging sewer system,” Crabtree said.
“The town has successfully reduced water infiltration rates through past sewer rehabilitation projects and we want to keep moving in the right direction. We have come a long way from the days of discharging raw sewage into the Saugus River prior to this administration,” he added.
for more information about the sewer subsystem 3A project, please contact Saugus Town Engineer Kevin Hallion at 781-231-4032.
