By Dolores Sauca Lorusso

As the sewer department plans to maintain a level-funded operating budget for the coming fiscal year, many capital improvement projects in the pipeline may necessitate an upcoming rate adjustment.

THE HULL SEWER TREATMENT PLANT IS AT 1111 NANTASKET AVENUE.

“We are 62% through the year and have 37% of the budget for the year left…The total department (FY24) budget is same total as last year (FY23),” Permanent Sewer Commission Chair Richard Mattila said at last month’s commission meeting, “but in reality, this is kind of skewed to the fact that the debt service is down 18% while capital expenses are up 78%.”

The sewer department’s forecasting will frame the way it is thinking about the capital plan.

“We will be looking at the rate structure to see if it will remain sufficient to support ongoing capital improvement programs,” said Director of Wastewater Operations/Assistant Director of Public Works John Struzziery.

The department’s budget is an enterprise fund, meaning that revenues from sewer fees are used to offset expenses. Struzziery stressed the fact “the bottom-line budget is staying the same as last year. We paid down one of the bonds so there won’t be principal and bond interest…then some expenses went down, while others went up.

“We are contracted with another service called WaterWorks that is looking at what our expenditures are in capital projects projected over the next number of years and offering revenue projections,” Struzziery added. “It is another tool to assess whether the rates are adequate to support what we are looking to meet. [It] may mean an interim rate adjustment and might be sooner than later.”

Struzziery described WaterWorks as an “inexpensive, robust tool that gives a lot of what if scenarios based on different actions.” He said the sewer department contracted with WaterWorks the end of February and is now “inputting the data, validating the data, and reviewing it to fully understand what it all means.”

“The vulnerability assessment done about a year and a half ago puts the plant at the top of the town infrastructure that is at risk,” Mattila said.

Struzziery explained how many of the capital projects in the works serve to mitigate this risk by ensuring reliability, redundancy, and resiliency. Updates to the HVAC system are complete and it has been “replaced to the second floor of the control building, so it is not damaged by flood in the future.”

The HVAC system was damaged by flooding 10 years ago; since then the plant has been working on interim systems to keep the system running and meet code requirements.

“The primarily goals were to get things back in order because it was in a disrepair, and to maintain the treatment functionality of the plant…So much damage set our priorities back, then COVID hit too,” said Struzziery.

In April, the plant will begin moving electrical systems to the second floor; this project will run for two years. The influent pumps will remain in the same location but will be replaced by “dry-pit submersible pumps,” so they are not vulnerable to flooding.

The aeration system is being improved because a well-designed system is a “key component of the filtration process” and has a direct impact on the level of wastewater treatment. The goal is to “give redundancy of aeration” by replacing the two older tanks so they match the two newer ones.

Struzziery said other building improvements “not as significant” as the HVAC, electrical, influent pumps, and aeration system will be made because they are necessary for “structural reasons.”

The design of the pumping station at Pemberton, across from the high school, is complete. “Production is expected to start later this year…we are awaiting grant approval from the Environmental Protection Agency,” said Struzziery. According to the EPA, the agency provides “financial and technical assistance to small and rural communities to establish and improve wastewater treatment services to lower the risk of harm to public health and protect the environment.”

The ocean outfall cleaning and rehabilitation project will continue to clean the sewer department’s “undersea discharge pipe and diffuser field and protect the diffuser heads from potential damage.” This rehabilitation project is contained in Article 10 on the May 1 town meeting warrant article because the American Rescue Plan Act funding has been applied for, and to be eligible, the selected use for the funds must receive approval.

There are 36 diffusers, and 1.5 years ago air excavation was used to expose 11 of the pipes and put extensions on them. The ARPA funding will be used to do the same for the remaining 25 pipes, which were also buried when the ocean bottom shifted over the years.

“The project allows us to clean sand out of the main outlets to restore capacity,” said Struzziery.

The sewer commission is considering a policy whereby sellers of real estate connected to the Hull sewer system without documentation, will need to have their service inspected at their own expense to update the town’s records. This policy will identify and remedy problems in older piping, minimize backups and service calls, as well as reduce infiltration and inflow to the sewer system. This policy primarily affects properties connected to the older sewer lines in town where records are not available.

The department decided that homeowners should be responsible for the cost of the inspection.

“It is hard to justify distributing a half-million-dollar cost among all sewer ratepayers when it only benefits a handful of property owners,” said Brian Kiely, assistant director of wastewater operations. “For the homeowner to order the service through a drain cleaner as part of the inspection process will cost between $500 to $700. For the town to do it will be a minimum of $500 per home times 1,200 affected homes, totaling $600,000.”

The Coastal Zone Management-funded design of the earthen, vegetative, and concrete berm to protect the wastewater treatment facility from coastal storm flooding has been completed, and the department expects to hear about a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency by the end of 2023.

“If funding is received, the design will be finalized, and construction will begin after some of the other capital projects are completed,” said Struzziery.