SWANSEA — Selectmen Chairman Steven Kitchin was authorized by his fellow board members last Tuesday to sign a letter of intent for the Town of Swansea to pursue establishment of a regional sewer district with the town of Somerset.
The letter will be sent to Somerset Water and Sewer Commission Chairman Scott O'Brien to tell him that the town of Swansea is interested in participating in future meetings to discuss the development of an initial inter-municipal agreement which could lead to the eventual establishment of a sewer district between the towns of Swansea and Somerset.
Kitchin told selectmen Christopher Carreiro and Derek Heim that the letter only commits the town to discussing the development of a sewer district between the two towns. Somerset has a water pollution control facility for a townwide sewer system while Swansea does not.
Somerset is awaiting a permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that could require tens of millions of dollars in work on its water pollution control facility which is on Walker Street in Somerset.
Kitchin said O'Brien requested that Swansea send a letter to him to start the discussions.
Carreiro said the discussions to see how the towns can work together on water and wastewater services is a long time coming.
O'Brien said Somerset could sell water to Swansea or provide municipal sewer service. At this time, he said the focus is on sewer service, but he said it would be a long time before anything happens.
O'Brien said if Somerset can add additional flow to its water pollution control facility, it will ask Swansea if it is interested in sewer service. He said Somerset is unable to add additional flow at this time because of inflow and infiltration to the sewer system that comes from illegal connections. He said some studies on the system also still need to be done.
But O'Brien said Somerset has the infrastructure to provide sewer service to Swansea. He said there are pump stations on Lee's River Avenue and near the Venus de Milo that could be used. O'Brien said a new pump station would be built and a sewer line would be run up Route 6. He said Somerset's sewer system has the ability to make interconnections in Swansea.
O'Brien said regionalizing the town's sewer service would be a way to help pay for the upgrades to the water pollution control facility. He said regionalization worked for the high school, so he does not see why it can't work for water and sewer services.
O'Brien said the discussions about expanding sewer service to Swansea would involve the Somerset Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners, Swansea selectmen and the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District. He said there have been some very informal conversations to see if there would be interest from Swansea. O'Brien said he has talked to Town Administrator John McAuliffe about the issue.