Major sewer project proposed

NORWAY — Town Manager David Holt said he is about to apply for a federal stimulus grant that could pay as much as 75 percent of a proposed $1.5 million sewer project to address 100-year-old sewer lines in the downtown area.

The money would pay to replace more than 1,000 feet of sewer pipes in the Fair, Paris, Whitman, Cottage, Pine, Oak and King streets area that were installed in 1913.

"I don't think we'll see this type of funding again," Holt said at a public hearing held Thursday as part of the preliminary process for the grant application. The application is through Maine Rural Development.

The work would be financed over 30 years. "Users won't see much of an effect," Holt said of the financial impact. "It's work that needs to be done."

According to information from Holt, the Fair Street area, including Fair, Green and Winter streets, would be the biggest and most costly part of the project, costing $501,000.

Norway has one of the oldest sewer systems in the state, said Wastewater Department Superintendent Shawn Brown of the wastewater district. Work has been ongoing since 1992 to update the old lines, including those on Beal Street and Water Street that were replaced about five or six years ago.

Brown said some of the lines near Stephens Memorial Hospital on Green and Winter and Main streets are actually under buildings and run through private lots in a crisscross pattern. One pipe runs right under a homeowners basement, he said.

"We'd like to try to get it (the sewer pipes) back into the streets," he said of the lines now on private lots.

Other areas that would be improved are Paris Street and Winter Street at a cost of $318,000; the Whitman Street area including Crescent, Cummings Place and Maple Street for $201,000; Cottage Street at a cost of $191,000; Pine Street area including Marston Street, Hazen and Fern streets at a cost of $180,000; Oak Street at a cost of $46,000 and King Street at a cost of $71,000.

The figures are preliminary, Brown said.

Because the lines would be expected to last at least 30 years, financing the project through 30 years makes sense, Holt said.

Brown said the money might also be used to fence in the lagoons at the wastewater treatment facility on Brown Street as a safety measure.

ldixon@sunjournal.com