Wareham sewer board finalizes pitch for $26 million force main vote

Water · Meeting of April 23, 2026

Wareham sewer board rehearses $26 million pitch ahead of Monday's town meeting vote. The Board of Sewer Commissioners walked through a town-meeting presentation on replacing the deteriorating Narrows Pump Station force main, a 50-year-old, 9,000-foot pipe with up to 48 percent wall loss serving half the town's sewer customers. Consultant Russ Kleekamp warned that delay "adds three to five percent on top of this price tag" every year.

Commissioner Jim Giberti pegged the worst-case impact at "back of the napkin number is $180 per year," while one member said, "right now, I can't afford my sewer bill as it is." The board unanimously approved a $195,200 design-contract amendment with Weston & Sampson Engineers and authorized a request for proposals for a communications firm, with the town's certified retained earnings estimated between $6 million and $8 million.

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Source: the Water meeting of April 23, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.