Visible to beach-goers and waterside restaurant diners, Swampscott’s Stacey Brook outfall is an occasional smelly sewer pipe opening onto King’s Beach.
It is also a century-old pipe desperately in need of an overhaul, according to Town Meeting presenters who will make a case Monday night for initially spending $2 million on sewerage improvement work.
“Initial” is a key word for Town Meeting participants to remember Monday because the $2 million proposed allocation is just a starting point for the expenditure required to make improvements to the town’s waste system. The entire project cost estimate stretching over eight years is $10.7 million.
Most people never think about what it costs to maintain the underground network of sewer and storm lines. But it is an expensive undertaking monitored and enforced by state and federal environmental regulatory agencies.
The Lynn Water and Sewer Commission (LWSC) spent millions of dollars since 1990 creating a combined storm sewer overflow network with the goal of reducing, even eliminating, discharges of partially treated sewage into the ocean.
The so-called CSO project still isn’t finished and cost estimates for future work are a topic for sharp debate among Lynn officials.
Town Meeting members on Monday will be told that the time has come for replacing the aging Stacey Brook tunnel for the sake of reducing unsanitary waste discharges onto the beach and ensuring the town meets state and federal standards.
Since Swampscott sends it waste to Lynn for treatment in the giant plant off Commercial Street extension, it will be interesting to see if Swampscott officials — subject to Town Meeting approval — approach LWSC to play some type of financing role in the Stacey Brook project.
How this hypothetical proposal could dovetail with LWSC’s future combined storm sewer projects remains to be seen. But it might make sense for the town and the commission to join forces to meet federal standards for reducing coastal water pollution. Nahant and Saugus, both coastal communities, also send their waste to LWSC for treatment so the opportunity for a regional approach to reducing ocean waste discharges might be possible.
A combined effort could focus on getting federal officials to ease pollution reduction standards or it could focus on a joint request for tax dollars to help pay for pollution reduction projects. With a multi-million plan on the table and relationship in place with a major waste treatment agency, it makes sense for Swampscott to not go it alone on Stacey Brook.