Provincetown devises one-of-a-kind wastewater solution
MMA Innovation Award winner - award presented on Jan. 17, 2004
After 50 years of discussions and nearly a decade in the making, the town of Provincetown went “online” on July 15, 2003, with its first-of-its-kind wastewater solution – a system so unique it required five special pieces of state legislation to bring it about. In addition to its technology and service delivery methods, the sewer system is the first the town has ever had. Before July 2003, there were no public wastewater collection, treatment or disposal facilities in Provincetown.
Provincetown’s solution is a model for other communities looking to construct a sewer system that principally serves properties that cannot comply with Title 5 on site, as well as adjacent properties that choose to connect (by establishing a “checkerboard” district where properties can “opt-in.”). This is allowed under a home rule petition enacted in 2000. Properties not connecting to the sewer are part of a townwide septic system inspection program to prolong the useful life of those on-site systems.
The system allows property owners to set aside escrow funds to pay for their sewer betterments, rather than having to use those funds to upgrade septic systems that would soon be abandoned.
The system includes a first-in-Massachusetts hybrid vacuum sewer system. Properties not connecting to the sewer are part of a townwide septic system inspection program to prolong the useful life of those on-site systems.
Contact: Public Works Director David Guertin at (508) 487-7060
Innovation award judges
Judges for the 2004 MMA Innovation Awards were Northeastern University Law School professor Peter Enrich, a former Lexington selectman, and Bruce Wallin, an associate professor of political science at Northeastern University and a former special assistant to the mayor of Trenton, N.J.
Written by MMA Publications/Web Director John Ouellette
