Wastewater Regionalization Study (Orleans- Brewster- Eastham)
Prepared for the Town of Orleans
by Wright- Pierce
December 2009
The Town of Orleans has embarked on a multi-year, multi-phase planning process to determine if improved methods of wastewater management are needed, and if so, what those improved methods would entail and what they would cost. This process has been called Comprehensive Wastewater Management Planning and is documented in the report entitled Orleans Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan, April 2009 Draft.
Section 9 of the Orleans draft CWMP provides the rationale for Orleans working with its neighbors to determine if regional wastewater facilities make sense. The Town of Orleans secured a grant from the Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative (CCWPC), under its "Shared Watersheds, Shared Responsibilities" program, to undertake this regionalization study. The intent is to complete this evaluation while the draft CWMP is undergoing environmental review and then incorporate its findings in the final CWMP in early 2010.
The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate regionalization alternatives and to determine if they make economic, environmental and political sense. This study will include the following steps:
- Identifying logical options for joint wastewater facilities;
- Estimating wastewater flows in the portions of Eastham and Brewster that are tributary to
coastal systems with nitrogen control needs to supplement similar prior estimates for
Orleans; - Identifying prospective sites in Brewster and Eastham where these Towns could address their needs on their own, including possible sewer service areas;
- Estimating costs for both local and regional solutions;
- Developing and applying cost-sharing formulas; and
- Evaluating non-financial issues.
The principal reason for regional cost savings is "economies of scale"; that is, the cost to treat a gallon of wastewater decreases with increasing plant size. As flows increase at a wastewater treatment facility, some costs (such as chemicals or sludge disposal) increase in direct proportion to the flow. Other costs, such as labor, do not increase in proportion to flow. If two or more towns participate in a regional facility, they can share those "fixed costs" and save money over separate individual plants.
Transport costs are the principal factor offsetting these economies of scale. Any town must weigh the cost to build a pipeline to a regional facility against the costs savings attributable to joint treatment. Towns the size of Orleans, Brewster and Eastham are prime candidates to take advantage of economies of scale, provided that transport costs are not excessive.