City may be its own problem in sewer issue

City officials will continue to force the town of Watertown to divert is sewage flows from Arsenal Street to Coffeen Street, even though there are compelling arguments that this issue is solely that of the city.

City Manager Mary M. Corriveau said last week that a proposed Celtic themed bar/restaurant has already received the go-ahead from the city to open, even though there is a ban on further sewage flows being introduced to the Arsenal Street sewage main.

The city is also reviewing the sewage permit for a Japanese steakhouse. While both businesses shouldn't be as taxing to the city's infrastructure as say a hotel, restaurants certainly produce more dirty water than a typical retail store or car dealership.

The city told the town last summer that it will no longer approve permits for further development along Route 3 until the sewage is diverted off the overburdened main and on to a main beneath Coffeen Street. Since the town must apply for sewage permits from the city each time a new store opens in the municipality, the city can essentially block any development be proposed along Route 3.

The city manager said that while a choke point exists in the sewage main nearly Friendly's restaurant, the remaining section of main east of that area, however, can accept more flows.

On a side note, it's certainly inconvenient for the city that the state Department of Transportation spent in the neighborhood of $34 million to rebuild the Route 3 bridge and a roughly mile-long section of road in the town of Watertown to help direct traffic that envelops the area during business hours, especially when the state maintains Arsenal Street, from I-81 to Massey Street. Expanding that project another football field, or so, to the west would have allowed crews to fix that choke point and fix the city's sewage problems.

Town Supervisor Joel R. Bartlett, also told the council in a meeting earlier this week that the municipality has within the last year upgraded a sewage pump station along Route 3, just west of I-81. That station, he said, was a large source of groundwater infiltration that contributed to the town's flows.

With city Engineer Kurt W. Hauk in the room and offering little in the way of protest, Mr. Bartlett defended the town, saying the municipality has cut its daily sewage flow in half as a result of the project.

So where does this leave any developer proposing to build along Route 3? They're going to have to wait at least four months for the town to install a main and pump station through Salmon Run Mall's property to Coffeen Street. Any existing businesses along Route 3, you'll be getting a larger sewage bill in the decade or so. The roughly $1.4 million diversion project will be billed to property owners in Sewer District 2, which runs along Route 3 towards the town of Hounsfield.