Medeiros shares questions in advance of Brazil Street meeting

Recognizing that the aftermath of the Brazil Street sewage backup has left many questions for the neighborhood and the city at large, I joined with Ward Five Alderman Shawn MacMaster in co-sponsoring an order calling for Mayor Gail Infurna’s administration to appear before the Board of Aldermen to provide a public reporting on the incident which occurred on June 20, 2019.

I am concerned for the residents and hope this will address many of the questions that exist about what happened, about what the costs are associated with this incident, how and when they will be paid, and what steps are being taken to prevent anything like this from happening in the future.

This Order # 2020-4 will be heard Thursday, July 18, 2019 at 7:30 pm in the Aldermanic Chamber at Melrose, City Hall, 562 Main St, Melrose, MA. Public Comment is allowed in the beginning of the meeting. If you wish to speak, please be sure to arrive on time.

Our City Solicitor / Deputy Mayor has requested that we “provide any and all specific questions” to the administration in advance of our meeting. I have done so and thought it may be helpful to share those with the public as well in advance of this meeting.

Questions from Alderman-at-Large Monica Medeiros

I have co-sponsored Order # 2020-4 along with Ward Five Alderman Shawn MacMaster. As he is the ward alderman, I have deferred many of the most specific questions related to the residences to him and have taken more of an “at-large” approach to my questions.

Costs to the affected residents and to the City

In an email to me dated June 27, 2019, Mayor Infurna indicated that the city through the sewer enterprise fund would pay the cost for the ServPro initial cleanup by either paying it outright or reimbursing the residents/homeowners for this cost with the expectation that our sewer fund would be reimbursed by our insurance.

Likewise, hotel stays for the displaced residents were to be paid by the Emergency Fund with the expectation that the cost would be reimbursed by our insurance.

Is this still the case? What has been the expense so far for ServPro? Where in the sewer fund does this expense come from? Should the Aldermen expect an order to approve this expenditure to be forthcoming?

What has been the cost for lodging thus far? What was the balance in the Emergency fund prior to June 20, 2019, how much has been expended since that date related to Brazil Street, how much has been received by the fund since that date, and what is the current balance? How can people make donations to that fund if they wish to do so?

How will the restoration of these residences be funded?

If the City of Melrose is the utility provider for sewer service, should not we be responsible to pay for any and all damages related to the failure of our system whether by human error or by some other system failure?

Process & Timelines for Claims and Reimbursement

After our July 15, 2019 Board of Aldermen meeting, I spoke with residents from Waverly Place who experienced a similar incident more than one year ago in June of 2018 who are still awaiting payments for insurance claims. Would you please provide a realistic timeframe in which affected residents of Brazil Street may expect to be reimbursed for their claims?

Evaluation of Existing Lines / Planning for Prevention

The Brazil Street neighborhood including Washington Street and Pleasant Street has seen significant residential growth and changes of use in existing parcels of land from industrial to residential. In some cases, what was once a parking lot has become a multistory residential building.

Where does the Brazil Street sewer line go? Does Brazil Street share its line or connections with Washington Street or Pleasant Street?

Prior to any new development, is the City conducting any evaluation of the existing sewer lines to ensure that those lines will be able to handle the increased waste output? If so, would you please describe this process?

The Weston and Sampson report indicated that the sewer line on Brazil Street is only 6 inches in diameter – 2 inches lower than the current industry standard of 8 inches. Although many of the homes on Brazil Street date back to prior to 1900, at least a third of them were added in 1950 or after to this 1906 sewer line. Does the City conduct any evaluations of existing lines, many more of which date back to the earlier 1900s, to verify whether the existing lines have adequate capacity given today’s waste output? Was any such evaluation conducted here?

On October 17, 2016, we, the Board of Aldermen, voted to authorize a $540,500 bond through the MWRA assistance program to design a sewer inflow and infiltration program. Would you please describe this program and its progress? Specifically, would you indicate whether the sewer lines on Brazil Street or near the Washington Street connection were inspected as part of this program? If so, please indicate what if anything was found including whether there was indication of the grease clog or roots.

Mitigation Fees

On September 19, 2005, the then Board of Aldermen voted to establish a donation account number 6030, named “Inflow and Infiltration (I/I) – Mitigation Pembroke” to be used “exclusively for infrastructure improvements related to Inflow and Infiltration (I/I).” The initial deposit into this fund was from Pembroke Real Estate, the developer of Oak Grove Village in the amount of $80,219.39.

On June 16, 2016, we, the Board of Aldermen voted to create an ordinance allowing the city to collect Infiltration and Inflow Mitigation Fees, which required any new development or improvements which would increase inflow or infiltration into our wastewater system to pay a mitigation fee to offset the effect of that increased sewer usage. The balance in that fund as of June 14, 2016 was $124,496.01. How much has been collected since that date, what is the balance in that account as of today, and have any of the funds collected in this account been expended for sewer improvements in the neighborhood of Oak Grove Village, including Brazil St, Washington St, Pleasant St or in any line directly feeding into or out of Brazil Street? If so, please describe these improvements and their costs.

If money remains in this fund, could it be used to fund the replacement of the Brazil Street sewer main as recommended in the Weston and Sampson report estimated to cost $150,000?

Are there any other known areas in more urgent need of repair?

Grease and Roots

The report by Weston and Sampson appears to indicate that in addition to age, the presence of roots and grease contributed to the incident on Brazil Street.

How long does it take for a grease clog such as this to accumulate? What steps can be taken by residents and by the City of Melrose to combat roots and grease in our pipes.

One house that was low lying #5 was not affected. The Weston and Sampson report indicates that the service connection was replaced using PVC in 2011, just eight years ago, but that it was so filled with roots and grease that it may have prevented the sewage back flow into the home.

Would you please discuss piping materials common to Melrose (clay, cast iron, PVC etc), and their strengths and weaknesses? Is PVC what we now use as industry standard? If so, how could the condition of this 2011 pipe be so bad? Is this the clump of roots and grease by #5 on city property? If so, what are we doing to clear this? If not, have we alerted the homeowner to the issue and the potential for sewer surcharge into their home?

Maintenance

Is there a regular schedule for maintenance of pipes, in particular for cleaning?

Training and Protocols

Would you please describe what kinds of equipment are used by DPW staff to address these types of blockages or potential blockages? Are there any certifications required to use these machines? Do we offer any kind of specialized training to our employees who use this equipment?

What is the protocol to address and identify any blockage, and to facilitate its removal?

The Weston and Sampson report does mention that had they known there was the presence of tree roots and grease, potentially a different tool may have been used – one that cuts with a nozzle. Would you explain how this tool works, and why it was not used in this case?

Communication

How and when did the City learn of this problem? When the first backup was discovered, how was it determined which houses also had backups? How were the residents and homeowners alerted? How were the residents in the thirty-one other homes on Brazil Street alerted to this potential problem?

Environmental Concerns

We are aware that these pipes on Brazil Street and many other pipes throughout the city have cracks into which tree and other plant roots grow. If these cracks allow groundwater and roots to seep in, does also sewage seep out? What are the environmental impacts to this? What steps is the City taking to address this? Should the residents of Brazil St be concerned by this?

Frequency / Pervasiveness

In addition to Brazil Street’s backup, we have heard from residents from Waverly Place who have experienced a similar sewer backup. How many homes have been affected by a similar backup annually within the past five years?

Melrose has 74 miles of sewer pipe according to the MWRA. The Weston and Sampson report indicated age of pipes, presence of roots and grease as problems. How many of our other pipes share these problems? How many are or are not at capacity for the neighborhood they serve?

Preventative Measures

With the above questions in mind, what steps is the City taking to ensure that more backups do not occur?

What can residents do to protect themselves? Do things like backflow preventers or commercial root killers work?

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Please feel free to contact me MMedeiros@CityofMelrose.org or the entire Board of Aldermen at Aldermen@CityofMelrose.org on this issue.

Monica Medeiros is a Melrose Alderman-at-Large and candidate for Mayor of Melrose.