Wareham sewer board reviews its 1996 billing formula during a $27.7 million plant upgrade
Members have talked about moving commercial customers to water-use billing and making residential rates more equitable. Sept. 10 minutes showed odor fixes pending and a sludge contract priced at $1,199 per liquid ton.
WAREHAM Wareham's Board of Sewer Commissioners is reviewing the formula behind most sewer bills in town, a schedule of "equivalent dwelling units" adopted in 1996. At the same time, the treatment plant is partway through a $27.7 million Phase II upgrade and pays $1,199 per liquid ton to haul away sludge, according to the board's minutes and agendas.
The board, chaired by Jim Giberti, meets next on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m., its Oct. 8 agenda says. Any change to the rate structure would decide how the cost of running and rebuilding the system is split among homes and businesses.
How bills are figured now
The schedule posted on the Sewer Department's documents page is stamped "EDU SCHEDULE ADOPTED 7/2/1996." A single-family home counts as one unit and a duplex as two. A restaurant is charged one unit per 12 regular seats, and offices and stores one per 10,000 square feet, with a minimum of one. Most charges follow the type and size of a property, not how much water it uses; only the industrial category is tied to water use.
What the board is weighing
The board's priority list, posted with its Sept. 24 agenda, includes "Revise residential EDU rates" and "Explore transitioning commercial rates from EDU to water usage," both under the heading "Fairness for ratepayers." The next step listed for residential rates is to "present details formally to commission and public in a public meeting" and begin a public education campaign. The Oct. 8 workshop agenda listed an "EDU proposal" and a "Review of residential EDU rate structure." Minutes of the Sept. 24 and Oct. 8 sessions were not posted as of Oct. 18.
The Aug. 27 minutes record member Sandra Slavin saying the board "is looking at alternatives to the rate structure as it is right now and changing rates from EDU's to water usage for commercial customers." Member Robert Scanlon asked a consulting firm whether it could restructure rates and make the EDU rate more equitable first, and later said "the rates need to be worked on and then a plan established for the future," according to the minutes.
That night the board heard pitches from Waterworth, rate-modeling software at $8,900 a year, and Woodard & Curran, an engineering and consulting firm. By Sept. 10 no firm had been chosen, and Scott Kraihanzel, director of the Water Pollution Control Facility, suggested a new request for proposals covering all services.
What the system costs
The department runs a 1.56 million-gallon-a-day plant fed by 61 miles of gravity pipe and 45 pump stations, with an $8 million budget, its town web page says. The Phase II construction contract totals $27,749,677, a representative of the engineering firm GHD told the board Aug. 27, when members approved a change order of about $107,000. On Sept. 10 they approved a $150,000 change with the contractor, Waterline Industries, for odor-control pumps and screen-cleaning brushes plus installation, replacing separate purchase votes.
Kraihanzel reported Sept. 10 that no clarifiers, the plant's settling tanks, were online, with completion expected by late September, and that headworks odor control was expected by early October. Posted records do not say whether either happened.
On Sept. 10 the board approved an amended Synagro sludge-hauling agreement running through July 30, 2029, at $1,199 per liquid ton including transport, member Scott Soby said. At a workshop the same day, the board backed a fall town meeting article declaring about 7 acres of town land at 6 Tony's Lane, the plant's address, surplus for a lease of up to 30 years. Kraihanzel described the spot as a lined landfill and pitched a plant that would bake dried sludge into a usable product, though the minutes note it is not known whether that can be done. He presents the article to the Select Board Oct. 20.
How to weigh in
The Oct. 22 meeting is in Room 520 of the Multi-Service Center, 48 Marion Road, and board meetings air on WCTV, Comcast 26 and Verizon 29. Its agenda had not been posted as of Oct. 18. The Sewer Department is at 508-295-6144 or wpcf@wareham.gov, and its odor hotline is 844-331-1259.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
How we verified this
Every fact comes from the Wareham Board of Sewer Commissioners' Oct. 8 agendas and Aug. 27 and Sept. 10 minutes, the board's posted priority list, the Sewer Department's posted EDU schedule and web page, and the Select Board's Oct. 20 agenda, listed below. We read them on Oct. 18. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar and checked each claim against the documents. The Aug. 27 and Sept. 10 minutes give the change order as $106,504.87 and $106,584.87, so we round it. Questions for the Sewer Department are logged but have not been sent. Not heard: no one was contacted.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (9)
- Board of Sewer Commissioners Workshop Agenda, October 8, 2026Town of Wareham, sent to clerk Oct. 5, 2026. EDU proposal, residential EDU rate structure, FY26 budget to actual, CWMP, next workshop Nov. 12. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Board of Sewer Commissioners Meeting Agenda, October 8, 2026Town of Wareham, sent to clerk Oct. 5, 2026. PR proposals, Synagro ratification, Bourne items, next meeting Oct. 22, 6:30 p.m., Room 520, WCTV channels. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Minutes of Meeting of Wareham Board of Sewer Commissioners, August 27, 2026 (scanned, 7 pages)Town of Wareham, submitted to clerk Sept. 11, 2026. Rate structure remarks, Waterworth and Woodard & Curran, Phase II contract, change order, pumps, brushes. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Minutes of Meeting of Wareham Board of Sewer Commissioners, September 10, 2026Town of Wareham. GHD vulnerability study and grant, Waterline change, director report, Synagro price. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Minutes of Workshop Meeting of Wareham Board of Sewer Commissioners, September 10, 2026Town of Wareham. Tony's Lane lease article, pyrolysis, consultant selection. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- EDU Schedule (PDF), adopted 7/2/1996Town of Wareham Sewer Department. Unit counts by property type. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Sewer DepartmentTown of Wareham. Plant size, pipe, pump stations, budget, phone, email, odor hotline. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Board of Sewer Commissioners priority/task list, attached to the Sept. 24, 2026 agendaTown of Wareham. Residential EDU revision and commercial water-usage items, next steps. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Select Board Meeting Agenda, Tuesday, October 20, 2026Town of Wareham. Surplus land article presentation. Read Oct. 18, 2026.