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Departments: Sewer Commission

Mission:

The Hingham Sewer Commission provides sewer service to approximately 2500 residences and/or businesses in the North Sewer District (NSD) and 180 residences and/or businesses in the Weir River Sewer District (WRSD). We currently maintain about thirty miles of sewer pipe and 13 pump stations.

The town is broken down into two separate sewer districts:
The North Sewer District has approximately 2500 businesses and residences connected to it, this flow goes directly to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

The other district in town is the Weir River Sewer District. There is sewer service provided for approximately 275 houses in the West Corner section of Town. The flow from this district, combined with the flow from approximately 300 houses in Cohasset goes to the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Hull.

Billing:

Bills are sent to sewer users twice a year. The fall bill is a minimum of $150.00 or the cost of usage based on the first two quarters of water consumption, whichever is greater. The spring bill is based on actual water consumption for the entire previous calendar year adjusted for any payment made in the fall. The sewer use fee for Fiscal Year 2009 was $8.50/100 CF of water in the North Sewer District and $8.50/100 CF in the Weir River Sewer District.

Billing is based upon 100% of water use however, the use of dedicated meters to measure non-sewer deposited water for consumption adjustment is allowed when permitted through the sewer department.

Online bill payment is now available!

Sump Pumps:

Connection of sump pumps to the sewer system is strictly prohibited. Sump pumps contribute substantially to excess water (I & I or Inflow and Infiltration) in the system and add to the annual user fees in the NSD and may result in heavy fines in the WRSD.

Those considering purchasing a home in Hingham will want to have any illicit sump pump connections identified and re- routed before purchase. The Commission will re-route existing sump pumps at no charge to the owner. Please leave a message at (781) 740-0166 to arrange for participation in this project.

2010 Annual Report

While the sewer extension projects in lower Central and Thaxter Streets were carried out in 2009, the final tasks of paving and line painting were accomplished in 2010. These combined projects have provided potential sewer connections to eleven additional properties in the Hingham/ North Sewer District.

When the first phase of the Weir River Sewer project was completed in 1998, it was understood that the town would be responsible for the grinder pump units for ten years. In 2010 the Sewer Department began to implement the turnover of the equipment to the homeowners. The Sewer Commission felt that, given the age of the units, it was in the best interest of the property owners to be sure that the equipment was in top working order before handing it over to them. Therefore, the upgrading of the operating systems of the grinder pumps at 74 residences in the Weir River Sewer District, begun in 2009, was completed in 2010. Every residence with this equipment was given the option to take advantage of this upgrade at no cost to the homeowner.

The State Division of Occupational Safety (DOS) conducted a system wide survey of our operations in October. While Hingham was praised for being ahead of many of its neighbors in terms of on-the-job safety, suggestions were made regarding the use of new procedures and equipment to make sewer operations even safer. The equipment was purchased, and the new safety measures began to be phased in. Additional procedures to ensure a safe work environment will be implemented in 2011 completing the improvements suggested by DOS.

A break in the main sewer line, installed in 1958, between Hingham and the MWRA occurred on August 13. The cause of the break was a failed coupling. While there was no way to predict that problem, the age of this infrastructure and a history of earlier breaks made a future emergency a realistic possibility. Knowing this, the Sewer Commission began taking steps over a number of years to minimize the likelihood of additional breaks in that Route 3A line. The 2002 Town Meeting approved $980,000 to repair or replace the line. However, in the interest of keeping costs as low as possible the Commission decided to take a stepped approach to the problem by having air and vacuum relief valves installed to cure a basic design problem. In addition, access man-holes for future work were installed before Mass Highway completed its repaving of Route 3A. Those steps helped to reduce the number of breaks occurring in that line, but the recent problem has reopened the possibility of proceeding with the next step which would be installing a cured-in-place lining.

Inflow and Infiltration (I/I) of extraneous water into the sewer system, often extremely difficult to pinpoint, continues to be a serious and expensive problem for all municipalities. In 2010 the Sewer Department began discussions regarding a program to perform a system-wide analysis and cleaning of our sewer infrastructure. This inspection of every part of the sewer system would produce a criticality list that would enable the Sewer Commission to prioritize and plan for future sewer repairs such as the lining mentioned above. In addition and possibly more importantly, it would identify sources of I/I and allow the department to reduce or eliminate this on-going problem. The Commission plans to reach a decision regarding an underground asset assessment in 2011.

The Sewer Commission would like to remind sewer users that the introduction of extraneous water (I/I) and/or fats, oils, and grease (FOG) into the system causes excessive wastewater treatment and repair costs. Homeowners in the sewer districts who use sump pumps can aid the effort to reduce I/I by contacting the Commission to have their pumps checked. Any flow found entering the sewer system will be redirected, at no cost to the property owner. While there is a program to reduce or eliminate FOG from non-residential cooking establishments, individuals can help to alleviate this problem as well. The Sewer Commission requests that residents refrain from putting any fatty substances into their drains. Your assistance in these areas is greatly appreciated.

As always we want to thank our maintenance staff, Jim Dow, Larry Hallahan, Steve Dempsey, and Ed Hunnefeld; and our office staff, Kate Lathrop, Joanne Carpenter, and Susan Morrison for their dedication and hard work.

Michael A. Salerno, Chairman
Edmund Demko
Andrew Spath