As the Warwick Sewer Authority (WSA) continues to move forward with sewer expansion projects throughout the city, there recently has been a great deal of discussion regarding sewer assessment rates and the mandatory connection program. We feel it’s important to clarify several misconceptions relative to the WSA’s projects.

As many Warwick residents already know, the health of Greenwich Bay and Narragansett Bay has been of concern to our community for many years. Many local, state, and federal agencies and organizations have worked together to develop a comprehensive approach to identify and address the underlying causes of the pollutants entering Greenwich Bay. A Mandatory Sewer Connection Program (MSCP), which was developed by the City in conjunction with the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), is one component of this plan. A scientific study conducted by the URI Cooperative Extension to evaluate environmental characteristics and the groundwater pollution risk from unsewered areas within the Greenwich Bay and Narragansett Bay watersheds was used in development of the MSCP. The study examined various criteria, including population and housing density, soil characteristics, wetlands, sewer connection rates and shoreline characteristics. The study helped WSA to prioritize and rank areas of the City as a guide for extending sewers as well as implementing the MSCP to achieve optimum water quality improvements.

The WSA’s MSCP (available online), notes that, “Despite the considerable investment of public funds by the Warwick Sewer Authority over the last 43 years [that would be almost 50 years now] to provide sewer service to the community, in many areas of the City the rate of connection to the sewer system has been modest. In addition, many homes and businesses in Warwick rely on ineffective cesspools and septic systems. The soil conditions in Warwick also do not typically provide much treatment or removal of pollutants from these inadequate systems, especially along the critical areas of Warwick.”

One of the key actions in CRMC’s Greenwich Bay Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) was requiring sewer tie-ins where sewers are available. Other key components of the plan include the phase out of cesspools, implementing storm water best management practices, establishing vegetative buffers and continuing efforts to require advanced nitrogen treatment technology at wastewater treatment facilities to reduce fecal bacteria and nitrogen loads into the Bay. The City has been working on all these fronts for a cleaner Greenwich Bay.

In December 2005, the WSA held a public hearing to announce the start of the MSCP program, which started with the requirement for sewer connections in the Greenwich Bay watershed, where available, within one year of notice. In January 2006, the first series of letters to property owners was mailed. Since then, over 1,600 mandatory connection orders have been issued by the WSA, in phases, with a compliance rate of about 60 percent, which is similar to connection rates across the City.

In time, all properties with available sewer service will be required to connect to the common sewer line. Because of certain manpower restrictions, the WSA must phase in the connections and has chosen to start in the environmentally sensitive areas of Greenwich Bay.

The WSA has the authority to mandate connections in the interest of public health, which was the basis of the MSCP. The WSA plans to use this authority judiciously, and to target enforcement efforts based on the ability to permit and inspect new connections. The WSA does consider requests for deferments of the mandatory connection orders in cases of economic hardship, among other reasons. The WSA will not allow deferments in a case where the property is serviced by a cesspool. The goal is an enforcement policy that deals fairly with those who are in violation and considers issues like environmental impact and the intent of the violations.

The WSA also aggressively applies for grants and/or federal funds that can be used to pay for new sewer construction. However, in order to use such grants and federal funds, WSA is required to have a mandatory connection program. Therefore, a mandatory connection program is necessary in order for WSA to be able to receive funds that help lower construction costs, which, in turn, lower sewer assessments. It should also be noted that a statewide phase-out of cesspools in coastal areas will take effect in 2012, so residents with antiquated systems will have to connect to the sewer system or, if sewers are not available, replace cesspools with new code-compliant on-site wastewater treatment systems.

These infrastructure improvements are intended to help curtail the environmental impacts of nutrient loadings from cesspools and septic systems that leach into Narragansett and Greenwich bays. Unfortunately, even newer, conventional septic systems that are properly designed, installed, operated and maintained still generate high quantities of nitrates. More established neighborhoods in which there are older systems are surely contributing to the nitrate problem, regardless of how carefully those systems are maintained. Summer nitrogen loadings into Greenwich Bay from individual sewage systems are estimated to cause between 47 and 55 percent of the pollution problems each season and help contribute to, among other things, frequent beach closings every summer.

In Warwick, there seems to be no question that expanding sewer service, especially into coastal areas or areas with major surface waters, is part of the solution. Last summer, the Warwick Beacon reported on a grant received by the State of Rhode Island from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct water quality testing at beaches throughout the State. Despite some rainy summers recently, Warwick is seeing a decreased amount of beach closures. Department of Health Director Dr. David Gifford was quoted as saying that, “Warwick has connected over 4,000 homes to the municipal sewer system since 2004. This has had a major effect on reducing high sample results from 2003 through 2007.”

The WSA is currently working on three projects – Governor Francis Farms Phase II, Sandy Lane/Cedar Swamp and Bayside IV/Longmeadow – which have been grouped together to ensure more uniform sewer assessment rates. The Longmeadow neighborhood was selected instead of the Governor Francis Phase III project at this time because the latter includes a number of large and city-owned properties that would have qualified for sewer assessment deferrals. These short-term financial losses would have increased the total cost for the grouped projects, making such projects more costly for homeowners and the WSA.

Contrary to recently published reports, the three current projects are not the first to be assessed at a rate of $82 per linear foot. That rate has been assessed since 2007, and three other projects – Buttonwoods, Warwick Cove IIB and Capron Farms – were assessed at the same amount. These projects are also not the first in which the mandatory connection law will be enforced; the Capron Farms neighborhood, for example, is required to connect by next fall.

We believe that it is a matter of equity; if one group is mandated to connect, all should be mandated to connect. We hear that same call for fairness from property owners in Oakland Beach and Norwood, Warwick Cove and Governor Francis Farms. In response to this call for fairness, we support the proposed changes to WSA’s enabling legislation for this citywide connection program.

The WSA Enabling Legislation mandates that assessments are based on the estimated cost to install sewer lines, service connections, pump stations and other related infrastructure and monies collected from such assessments are used to repay the construction loans, which the WSA takes on in order to pay for the construction. It must be stressed that the assessment rate is based on the cost of construction, not as a way for the WSA to recoup financial losses due to past “mismanagement” of the WSA that has been alleged by several individuals.

Janine Burke, the WSA’s new executive director, served the West Warwick Sewer Commission for many years before coming to Warwick. She has many years’ experience with environmental and wastewater treatment issues and is well respected by both her peers in this industry and environmentalists. But even before Ms. Burke was hired to take the helm at WSA, the staff had been working with the Board of Directors to implement fiscally-sound programs and policies to improve WSA operations.

Ms. Burke and her staff have been working diligently to find grants and federal dollars in order to offset construction costs, thereby lowering sewer assessments. WSA has also implemented a management policy that is meant to minimize sewer construction costs. In addition, the WSA is investigating the legal and financial possibilities for subsidizing future sewer assessments with other sources of revenues. In efforts to assist homeowners with the cost of connecting the sewer system, the WSA has established a low-income grant program. The WSA is also working with the Rhode Island Clean Water Finance Agency and Rhode Island Housing to put the finishing touches on a low-interest (2%) loan program that will be available to all residents.

Ms. Burke has expressed a willingness to listen to residents’ ideas in order to help sewer construction projects be more effective and be implemented more efficiently. Finding a way to potentially reduce the $82/linear foot assessment isn’t going to happen in the next several weeks, but if there is a way to bring those costs down, Ms. Burke has assured us that she will do so. Several residents have expressed an interest in working with the WSA to examine ways to keep assessment rates down. We would suggest, and support, a resident-based, grassroots campaign to secure additional federal funding for Warwick’s wastewater infrastructure as another avenue to explore.

As Ms. Burke and her staff continue to work on these issues, we appreciate residents’ cooperation and involvement in the process. We would like to commend those residents who have voluntarily connected to the sewer system or have complied with mandatory connection requirements. In the long run, connecting to the sewer system will result in better water quality for our Bays.