The city doesn't know why the sewers keep flooding

By Scott Zoback

Sewer backups and overflows are to certain neighborhoods in Worcester what earthquakes are to California: You don't know when they're going to hit, but it's just a matter of when, how hard, and how much damage will be done.

Indeed, it was the sewer system's propensity for pouring out that led to the city paying a $125,000 fine in 2006 to state and federal environmental agencies. At the time, the city maintained that the frequent overflows were largely a result of a high concentration of fats, oils and greases in the system — primarily from restaurants — and began its now-infamous program of forcing restaurants to install new grease traps to reduce those discharges.

That fine came in the aftermath of the "rainstorm of the century" of 2005, when Worcester property owners filed $782,000 in claims against the city for land and possessions that were damaged by flooding and sewer overflows during a nine-day October storm. At the time, most of the focus was on the Dunkirk/Brightwood area of the city; homes in that area were flooded again earlier this year with water and sewage after a few days of heavy rain.

But it's not just that southeast corner of town that has experienced frequent problems. In the Newton Square/Kinnicutt Road areas, there has been periodic flooding and overflows have occurred as recently as April. Last Friday, residents met with politicians and city officials to discuss the reasons behind the flooding and potential solutions.

"The purpose was to make sure they're not going to be ignored anymore," says District 1 City Councilor Joff Smith, who was present at the meeting.

Anecdotally, residents and business owners from the neighborhood and around the city say that the number of backups seems to have increased in the past two years. Kinnicutt Road resident Teena Lenis says that a number of neighbors have claimed that there was little to no flooding for 25 or 30 years in the neighborhood but that since an April 2005 flood, they've had two to three major incidents.

Commissioner of Public Works Robert Moylan is quick to question that assumption, saying we need to "better define" if there has been an increased frequency, specifically in that Kinnicutt Road area. "We almost have to take the October 2005 storm out of the equation," he says.

Moylan allows that "we have more questions than we have answers" when it comes to why sewers are backing up around Kinnicutt Road. The only definite, he says, is that "We know that downstream there is a sewer capacity issue that needs to be resolved. That capacity issue existed 10 years ago, it exists today." Still, the extent to which that has effected the upstream region is unknown.

Moylan and Smith say that the city is still waiting for promised state money to upgrade those at-capacity sewer lines, located in the Pleasant Street and Newton Square area. Tthat money is reportedly being held up by the state Legislature.

Another question has involved the so-called "domino effect" from other municipalities into the Worcester system. Both Holden and Rutland discharge sewage through Worcester on its way to the Upper Blackstone Waste Pollution Abatement District wastewater treatment plant. The problem, according to published reports, is that Rutland is discharging more than their allotted capacity. According to a July 21 report in the Telegram & Gazette, Moylan has refused to allow Rutland a higher capacity. Still, he says, "We don't think that the news from Rutland is affecting what those [Kinnicutt Road residents] are experiencing from time to time."

"What else can it be?" asks Lenis. "It doesn't make any sense." She points to the fact that sewer upgrades were expected in the area by 2005 based on the growing usage from Rutland and Holden. And while they didn't materialize, sewage overflows did. "It seems coincidental that we never had anything, then all of a sudden [in spring 2005] we did."

To help alleviate the direct effect on residents, Smith says that property owners will get a $2,000 tax abatement to cover the costs of backflow valves; Lenis says that her backflow valve hasn't always worked. Regardless, says Smith, "The long-term solution is to upgrade the sewers, which are in need of it." That may help the Newton Square neighborhood, but it is unknown whether it will effect the Kinnicutt Road residents.

Both Moylan and Smith say that the city will continue studying the problem to determine exactly what's causing it.

"[There's] more that we need to study to say 'Here are what the problems are," says Moylan.

"I know we're going to do a study," Smith says, "but this [the state sewer upgrade money] is something that has been promised to us before."

Lenis, like her neighbors, just wants a solution. "I'm prepared to keep up the pressure to get something moving," she says. o