By Beth David, Editor
At its meeting on 8/17/26, the Fairhaven Board of Public Works voted to get estimates on equipment that will measure hydrogen sulfide (HS), which causes an odor in the neighborhood adjacent to the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) on Arsene Street. Two members of the Board of Health, Barbara Acksen, and Justine Frezza attended the meeting to advocate for the equipment; Health Agent, David Flaherty, also attended.
The department already has monitoring equipment for HS, but not in the neighborhood, only in and immediately around the plant, and on the workers themselves.
A group of neighbors asked for the monitoring equipment, saying that even low levels of HS over prolonged periods of time can cause health problems.
BPW chairperson, Brian Wotten, repeatedly said he did not understand how monitoring equipment so far away from the plant would be beneficial. He said the monitors that are closer to the origin of any HS would go off if levels get too high.
Neighbors and the BOH members said they wanted to measure the HS when it as at lower levels and correlate it to health complaints.
The board’s engineer, Ian Catlow, confirmed that HS will cause an odor at the low level of .0005, but the alarms do not go off until at least ten times higher than that.
Mr. Catlow explained that there are different kinds of monitors available, but he did not think there were any that could record and be accessed in real time out in the field.
The idea is to set up the monitors at the edge of the WWTP property near the neighborhood. A huge construction project of 16 houses is underway and resulted in the clearing of a lot of trees.
This summer, neighbors said, the odor reached all the to Walmart blocks beyond their neighborhood in all directions.
Public Works superintendent, Vinnie Furtado, said they had instituted mitigation measures after the neighbors complained, and he felt they were successful.
“I’m not saying it didn’t stink to high heaven,” said Mr. Furtado, admitting in June it was “awful.”
The WWTP is undergoing an extensive upgrade, he said which is complicating matters. After it is completed and everything settles down, the mitigation measures will be permanent. Those measures mostly include adding certain chemicals that cancel out the odor.
The discussion bounced around for about an hour. BPW member, Hoppy Hobson, made the motion to get prices on the equipment.
“We can talk about this all night long,” said Mr. Hobson, adding they should price it out to see if it’s feasible. “I wouldn’t want to live int hat neighborhood myself, I’ll tell you that right now.”
The board did not have a formal vote, but asked Mr. Catlow research the options. They will talk about it at a future meeting.
The BOH stayed put for the next agenda item, which was a review of Title V (septic systems) regulations for West Island and the West Island Sewer Bylaw.
West Island has a WWTP (WITP) that services just the houses on the island. It was created through a complicated process that included the several state agencies, the federal government, and local boards, including the board of health.
The WITP has a hard cap on the number of houses that can tie into it, and that number has been reached. In recent years, there have been a number of houses being built, that need to have septic systems. Almost all the house lots on West Island are 6,000 square feet, which is not a lot of room for a modern septic system.
Some West Island residents have asked that the BOH and BPW review if those septic systems are polluting the marshes and the waters around the island
Mr. Flaherty told the board that he was looking at some new regulations that would require newer systems that are smaller, but do a better job of removing nitrogen from the wastewater that is released into the ground.
He said the state is encouraging building on smaller lots and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).
Jeffrey Osuch, who was the town’s Executive Secretary when the WITP was built, gave a history of the effort to build the plant.
It involved buying back part of the state reservation to build the wicks (wells) that would take the treated effluent (discharge from the plant). That permission had to come from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
It literally required special legislation on the state level, and it required the Board of Health to accept the regulations, and a vote of Town Meeting.
Mr. Osuch said the whole process took three years.
It was precipitated by two hurricanes: Gloria in 1985 and Hurricane Bob in 1991. During Bob, the drinking water wells got contaminated by the septic systems
The first thing that happened was that town water was extended to Wes Island with the help of grants and low interest loans from the state.
Then the WITP, which also benefited from grants and low interest loans.
Mr. Osuch questioned the size of some of the recently built houses. New houses on West Island are limited to two bedrooms, he said. No one is allowed to add a third bedroom. That makes it impossible to add ADUs on the island.
Mr. Osuch also addressed the notion that when the current septic systems eventually fail, that the owners will be allowed to tie into the WITP.
“That is not going to happen,” he said. “Unless you change the special legislation.”
He said all the information is easily available, and he did not understand how all the building is happening on the island.
“I’m just cautioning this board,” he said. “There are a lot of things going on there that are starting to raise red flags in my mind.”
He said he suspected that some people on the island had tied in their sump pumps to the sewer, which is causing enormous problems during rainstorms. He said they need to do a house to house search to stop the practice. The system is being overwhelmed both on West Island and at Arsene Street.
“People don’t realize how complicated this whole project was,” said Mr. Osuch, adding there was zoning, Coastal Zone Management (state agency). Department of Environmental Protection, and other state agencies that had to be receptive to the concept.
Mr. Osuch questioned how some of the building got approved if BOH was actually following its own regulations.
“If you don’t like the rules that exist, then take the steps to change it,” he said, do no just ignore them.
The board also interviewed and hired Zachary Francis as a full time permanent Laborer in the Highway Department. Mr. Francis has been working for the department this summer.
The meeting is available on demand at FairhavenTV.com
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