Methuen has concluded a major agreement on sewer infrastructure with the Town of Dracut that will bring enormous benefit to Methuen, as well as Dracut. In summary the highlights of this agreement are as follows.
1) Dracut will construct infrastructure to carry Dracut wastewater to the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District through Methuen at a cost of $7.6 million dollars. Dracut will then turn over ownership of that infrastructure to Methuen.
2) Dracut will construct, as part of the above mentioned infrastructure, a new pump station in Dracut that will handle flows from Methuen.
3) Dracut will pay Methuen $1.2 million dollars which will fund identification and removal of infiltration and inflow in this area. This “I&I” work will help to reduce stress on our system and will reduce our flows to the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District, thereby saving our sewer ratepayers by reducing our bill at the Sanitary District.
4) Dracut agrees to fund repairs to the Burnham Road and Bolduc Street pump stations on a percentage basis, comensurate with their flows through those stations. These repairs obviously would have to be funded, absent this agreement, 100 percent by Methuen ratepayers.
5) Dracut, in a separate contract, has agreed to join the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District and pay an entrance fee of $1.52 million dollars to the District. As a 40 percent owner of the facility Methuen derives a direct financial benefit from this capital charge to Dracut.
6) Dracut’s flows to the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District will not require a plant upgrade, as the GLSD has existing capacity. These flows will be paid for by Dracut, and help to reduce Methuen’s bill to the GLSD by spreading the plant expenses between a larger group of flows. It is another direct and tangible benefit to Methuen.
7) 40 Methuen homes, currently without sewer service, will now have sewer availability with no capital cost charged. Another major benefit to Methuen residents.
Those who have made the ridiculous charge that there is no benefit to Methuen from this agreement certainly must be looking at a different contract than the one I negotiated with Dracut. I have attached a pdf with some more detail. This agreement is in the best interest of the City of Methuen, and provides Dracut with needed additional capacity to serve their citizens. The City Council will be holding a workshop session on this proposal on Monday January 28 at 6:30.
Bill Manzi.com 
Mayor, Thanks for posting. Though I am not directly affected by this proposal, as a ratepayer/taxpayer who is affected, I do have one question with this proposal relative to the sewer infrastructure then being turned over to Methuen.
I recall recently reading of Andover doing some repair work to a similar type sewer pipe of theirs that travels through Lawrence and needed some repair work in the vicinity of the new high school. The text at the end of this post from Andover’s website details their obligation.
Assuming that their situation is similar to the Dracut/Methuen proposal and that some Lawrence addresses also tie in, shouldn’t this be something worth considering from Methuen’s perspective, or is it implicit in the contract?
Text follows:
“The Sewer Division maintains the Town’s sewer infrastructure including the collection system, eleven current neighborhood sewer-pumping stations, Shawsheen Village Pumping Station, the force main and gravity line through Lawrence to the treatment plant in North Andover and the agreement with the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District (GLSD) for the treatment and disposal of our liquid wastes.”
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Jim,
I am checking the contract for specific language, and will post back on this today.
Bill
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Pingback: Methuen Mayor Bill Manzi summarizes Dracut/Methuen Sewer Project : Dracut Forum
Mayor Manzi,
When is this project going to happen for North Lowell Street?
Thanks,
Steve Blair
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Steve,
Let me check with our staff and I will try to post a reliable schedule in the next day or so.
Bill Manzi
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Mayor Manzi,
Has a reliable schedule been posted yet?
Thanks,
Steve Blair
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No but I will post one in a new section on Monday. Sorry about not posting as I promised earlier.
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Mayor Manzi,
Is the schedule in a different section?
Thanks,
Steve Blair
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Mayor Manzi,
Has the schedule been posted yet?
Thanks,
Steve Blair
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No, as we continue to wait on Dracut for their schedule. Will post as soon as Dracut firms up.
Bill
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