(Jan. 6, 2018) The main sewer line serving more than 80 percent of sewered homes on the island suffered a catastrophic failure beneath South Beach Street Thursday night, forcing the town to shut down its Sea Street pumping station and divert more than a million gallons of raw sewage into Nantucket Harbor.
Town officials brought in a construction crew from its sewer contract Robert B. Our via National Guard helicopter at 11:15 a.m. Friday to begin excavating the area around the pumping station to determine the cause of the breach and reroute the sewage to another sewer main. Crews will be working continuously on the ruptured 20-inch force main that runs along South Beach Street between Broad and Easton streets until the repairs are completed, town officials said.
"Best case, it should take about a day to repair, worst case a few days," sewer director David Gray said. "This weather isn't exactly helping us."
The municipal sewer system itself continues to function, but sewage can not be pumped from the Sea Street station to the Surfside wastewater treatment plant, necessitating its release into the harbor at the Easy Street Basin, town officials said.
"The discharge into the harbor is something nobody wants to see, but if we weren't doing it sewage would be backing up into hundreds of homes around the island," town manager Libby Gibson said.
Residents can continue to use their sinks, toilets and showers without fear of backups, Gray said. Town officials are asking the public to limit their water use as much as possible, however, to reduce the volume of activity and discharge into the harbor. Several nearby restaurants have also been ordered by the town's health department to close pending inspections.
The sewer main serves about 4,000 homes and businesses. Many, however, are occupied by seasonal residents and not in use this time of year.
State and federal environmental officials have been notified of the failure, and "understand our situation," Gibson said.
"The town remains in communication with state departments on regular update calls. The Massachusetts Department of Emergency Management, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Public Health and the Division of Marine Fisheries are committed to supporting the town to best manage this situation with resources and expedited services. The town has requested emergency procurement waivers from the Department of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance to ensure the most rapid and effective response for resources," town officials wrote in press release Friday afternoon.
South Beach and other surrounding streets have been closed and are being blocked by concrete barricades. The sewer-main break has undermined the street, which could collapse if a vehicle were to travel over it, damaging or compromising water lines and the electric utilities that run from the undersea cables serving the island to the downtown transfer station, police chief Bill Pittman said.
Residents are asked to stay away from the areas to avoid further compromising the street, and for public-health reasons.
"The biggest thing we ask is that if anyone decides to walk downtown, to avoid the puddles. At this point we don't know what is stormwater and what is sewage," town health director Roberto Santamaria said.
Cleanup, in conjunction with the state Department of Public Health, Department of Environmental Protection and Division of Marine Fisheries will begin as soon "as we have a handle on the failure," Gibson said.
Nantucket Harbor will be closed to shellfishing until the repairs are completed and the town, Division of Marine Fisheries and Department of Public Health can evaluate the affected areas.
Santamaria and town natural resources director Jeff Carlson will regularly test the harbor to determine the impact of the sewage release.
Work crews placed a containment boom in the Easy Street Basin around 3:30 p.m. Friday after a "small amount" of oil was observed coming from one of the discharge pipes. Booms, however, are unable to contain sewage spills, harbormaster Sheila Lucey said.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said in a statement the main ruptured in three or four places. Gray said he won't know what caused the sewer-main failure, which was reported at 8:14 p.m. Thursday, or exactly where it failed, until it can be dug up and examined.
"At this point, we're not sure, but I think it's safe to attribute it to the storm Thursday and freezing temperatures," he said.
Getting work crews to the island was complicated by high winds and the recent cold snap, which has prevented all boat transportation to and from the island since 6 a.m. Thursday, and necessitated the helicopter airlift.
Because of the street closures, Washington and South Water streets from Legion Hall to the Nantucket Whaling Museum will be open to two-way traffic to provide access into and out of town, police Lt. Angus MacVicar said.
The following streets will remain closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic until further notice: Easy Street, Cambridge Street, Oak Street, South Beach Street, South Beach Street Extension, Still Dock, Whalers Lane and Sea Street. South Beach Street is blocked at Easton Street. Harbor View Way remains open with access via Easton Street but exiting traffic to Easton Street only. Access to the Steamship Authority is limited until it resumes service.
Check back to www.ack.net for updates as they become available.
For up-to-the-minute information on Nantucket’s breaking news, boat and plane cancellations, weather alerts, sports and entertainment news, deals and promotions at island businesses and more, Sign up for Inquirer and Mirror text alerts. Click Here.