Longtime Northampton resident Steve Susco addresses Northampton mayor Mary Clare Higgins and the city council regarding sewer back ups into his home. (Meeting excerpt courtesy Northampton Community Television and camera operator Dann Vazquez.)
In an interview at his home with Redoubt, Susco said he was part of the first graduating class from Jackson Street School in the 1950s and has lived on Bridge Road for more than fifty years. He said the city took some of his family's property by eminent domain to create the current intersection of Bridge Road and the portion of Hatfield Street which runs behind Walmart over to North King Street.
Above, an illustration of Susco's theory on the Bridge Road sewer flow problem. A mechanical engineer by trade, Susco theorizes that the Northampton Nursing Home is plugging up the sewer at point B on a regular basis and he says there is evidence to support this claim. He says the sewer flows by way of gravity from the portion of Hatfield Street by St. Mary's Cemetery turning right onto Bridge Road. At Susco's house it then makes a hairpin turn onto Prospect Ave. at point A. Then at point B the sewage from Prospect Avenue, Bridge Road and the nursing home converge turning onto Gleason Road heading towards Jackson Street.
Susco stated that he and other neighbors suggested to the city that it connect the sewer between points A and C (see above) on Bridge Road when the city had Bridge Road reconstructed a couple of years ago. Susco does not understand why the city failed to make this connection which would have alleviated sewer problems in his view by creating a more straightforward path for the flow of raw sewage. Instead he theorizes that there is simply too little capacity in the existing system and too many turns in the sewer lines to handle peak flows or other unusual events. Because of this the DPW must continually allocate labor hours to clean out the Prospect Ave. manhole near Gleason Road according to Susco.
The above diagram provided by Susco further illustrates the serpintine route raw sewage must take as it heads towards Jackson Street down Gleason Road. The DPW has confirmed that other homeowners in the area have experienced sewer backups.
Mr. Susco requested all written correspondence between the DPW and Northampton Health Care on May 12, 2009. He received the following letters.
DPW letter dated May 5, 2008 to Northampton Nursing Home (verbatim):
The Northampton Department of Public Work's (DPW) has been documenting your sanitary sewer discharge point on Prospect Avenue for over two (2) years. Northampton Health Care continues to discharge illegal material(s) to the City's sanitary sewer system on a regular basis. The illegal discharge consists of rags, heavy paper towels and other linens. These materials have the capability of causing the system to clog, which in turn will cause sewer backups into residential homes. In June 9, 2007 a blockage on Gleason Road caused raw sewerage to backup up into residents basements. During clearing of the blockage, a large amount of rags and grease were noted.
The discharge of these materials is illegal under the City's Sewer Use Ordinance (PDF), specifically Chapter 260.18, 19 and 20 (attached). Your facility was warned on February 4, 2006 via Certified Mail. In addition I have spoken with a Mr. Fritz directly regarding this issue. At one point Mr. Fritz discussed a grinder station, which was not placed in serve to DPW's knowledge. Mr. Fritz also discussed not utilizing these rags anymore, which is currently is not the case. I also called Rich Perry, Maintenance Director after the September 9, 2007 waste removal and left a message. Mr. Perry stated that the use of these rags would cease.
Your facility is required to take immediate action(s) to ensure that these items do not continue to be discharged to the City sewer system. Photos documented an enhanced screen system on your property dated March 10, 2006 but it is not known whether or not this screen is still functional and daily cleanings are adhered too. Most recently on May 2, 2008, the DPW cleared a substantial amount of the same material from the manhole. The DPW asked that someone from your maintenance staff be present to document the problem and the site visit was refused.
The DPW requires that you submit, no later than the end of the day May 30, 2008, a written plan of compliance with the City's Sewer Use Ordinance. Failure to provide this plan on this date will result in a $5,000.00 violation for the April 25, 2008 event and subsequent $5,000.00 per violation thereafter. Implementation of the plan will follow immediately after concurrence by the DPW.
Please feel free to call me at the above telephone number to discuss this matter.
Sincerely,
Ned Huntley, P.E. Director of Public Works
C: Mayor Clare Higgins, John Hall-BPW, Charlene Shea-WWFT, Anthony Patillo-Building Commissioner
On May 27, 2008 Richard Perry responded (verbatim):
Dear Mr. Huntley,
In response to you letter dated May 5, 2008 on the sanitary discharge of paper towels and rags, I have since installed a bar grate as a temporary catch of rags and paper toweling being discharged into the city sewer line which leads on to Prospect Ave. Plus the maintenance department here at the nursing home has been cleaning the line every third day since we received the letter and I have been personally inspecting the sewer line once my department cleans it out to make sure it was cleaned right. For the future I am having a full screen metal grate made so it can be clean weekly by the maintenance department. This type of screen will catch 95% of the rags and paper toweling. We also have started buying bio de gradable wipes for the staff to use, making it safer for the sewer line. This new grate will be installed the week of June 16, 2008 and is being made to T. D. K. Plumbing of Hadley Mass. When the new screen is installed I will call you so your department can inspect it. We will also continue to monitor it and clean whatever is caught on the screen every Friday. Please fell free to have a Public Works employee stop any day to inspect the sewer in. I do apologize for the last time your department worker came to the facility to show us what they had found in the sewer but he was just a maintenance worker, I was not in the building that day otherwise I have always gone out to look what you dpeartment finds in the sewer. If need be I can send you the product that we are now using so as not to create this problem again.
Thanking you for your help and understanding
Richard Perry
Director of Environmental Services, Northampton Health Care
On September 10, 2008 DPW Director Ned Huntley wrote Northampton Health Care again via certified mail (verbatim):
Re: VIOLATION and PENDING FINE, ILLEGAL DISCHARGES TO SANITARY SEWER
Dear Administrator:
The Northampton Department of Public Work's (DPW) continues to monitor your sanitary sewer discharge point on Prospect Avenue. Northampton Health Care continues to discharge illegal material(s) to the City's sanitary sewer sytem on a regular basis even with the most recent upgrades to the screen rack system. The DPW has documented these events with photographs.
The discharge of these materials is illegal under the City's Sewer Use Ordinance, specifically Chapter 260.18, 19 and 20. Your facility has been warned on a number of occasions and most recently on May 5, 2008 via Certified Mail.
The Northampton Board of Public Works at its August 27, 2008 meeting discussed the continued violations and agreed that instead of the surcharge(s) being paid that the monies be invested in the upgrades so that there would be no future violations. The DPW believes this proactive approach is in the best interest of all parties. Prior discussions centered on installation of a grinder station which for some reason was not implemented. The DPW believes that this is the most viable option considering the continuation of these types of discharges.
Your facility is required to take immediate action(s) to ensure that these items do not continue to be discharged to the City sewer system. The DPW requires that you submit, no later than the end of the day on September 26, 2008, a written plan of compliance with the City's Sewer Use Ordinance. Failure to provide this plan on this date will result in a $5,000.00 violation for each documented event after the May 5, 2008 letter and subsequent $5,000.00 per violation thereafter. Implementation of the plan will follow immediately after concurrence by the DPW.
Please feel free to call me at the above telephone number to discuss this matter.
Sincerely,
Ned Huntley, P.E. Director of Public Works.
c: Mayor Clare Higgins, John Hall-BPW, Charlene Shea-WWTF, Anthony Patillo, Building Commissioner
On September 23, 2008 Richard Perry responded to the September 10 letter from Ned Huntley (verbatim):
Dear Mr. Huntley,
In reference to your letter dated September 10, 2008 in regards to Illegal Discharges into the Sanitary Sewer system, Northampton Rehabilitation & Nursing Center has come up with a plan of correction for the discharge of disposable wipes into the city sewer system. Effective September 18, 2008 the Nursing home instituted a policy that no more disposable wet wipes will be used in the building. A plan of correction was put into place where the facility will purchase reusable wash cloths for the nursing staff to use for patient care rather than the disposable cloths. This clinical procedure will eliminate the flushing of all disposable wipes into the city sewer system, as the reusable wash cloths can be re washed several times before being discarded The Administrator, Director of Nursing & Director of Environmental Services will be monitoring this plan of ocrrection on a daily basis to insure the nursing staff is following the plan of correction, the Maintenance department will also monitor the outside sewer line for any discharge on a daily basis and report any problems to the Administrator. Northampton Rehab & Nursing center does believe that this plan of correction will eliminate the on going sewer problem that has been on going. The nursing home does appreciate all the support and input that the Department of Public Works and the city of Northampton has given us in this matter. If you have any question please feel free to call me or stop at the nursing home regarding any further problems on this matter.
Sincerely,
Richard Perry, Director Environmental Services
cc: Mayor Clare Higgins, Anthony Patillo-Building Commissioner, John Hall, Charlene Shea
On September 30, 2008 the sewer backed up into Steve Susco's basement through his washing machine. On October 10, 2008 Ned Huntley sent the following letter to Northampton Health Care (verbatim):
Re: VIOLATION and FINE, ILLEGAL DISCHARGE TO SANITARY SEWER
Dear Administrator:
The Northampton Department of Public Work's (DPW) continues to monitor your sanitary sewer discharge point on Prospect Avenue. Northampton Health Care continues to discharge illegal material(s) to the City's sanitary sewer system. The DPW has been documenting these events with dated photographs.
The discharge of these materials is illegal under the City's Sewer Use Ordinance, specifically Chapter 260.18, 19 and 20. Your facility has been warned on a number of occasions and most recently on September 10, 2008 via Certified Mail. Your response to the requirements of that letter was discontinuance of disposal wipes effective September 18, 2008. Attached is a photograph taken on October 10, 2008 showing the continued illicit discharge. This outlet manhole was last cleaned on September 28, 2008. As such, this letter serves as a VIOLATION and a FINE of $5,000.00. The DPW will monitor this outlet again in the very near future to ensure compliance.
Every future violation documented will result in $5,000.00 fine to your facility. Please remit a check in the amount of $5,000.00 to the above address no later than thirty (30) days of receipt of this letter. Failure to pay will result in additional interest penalties.
Sincerely,
Ned Huntley, P.E., Director of Public Works
c: Mayor Clare Higgins, BPW, John Hall, Charlene Shea, Anthony Patillo
Prospect Ave. manhole uncovered. Image taken from DPW letter to Susco. Susco indicates the white and grey globs pictured near the access pipe are paper towels and other solid waste according to DPW officials. The pipe originates from the nursing home. Susco said the DPW now cleans out the manhole a couple of times a week in an effort to prevent back ups into neighborhood homes.
About six months later on Friday March 13, 2009 Susco had another sewage backup through the washing machine in his basement. He alleges that the Northampton DPW was working on the sewer on Hatfield Street. He said the DPW's sewer camera became stuck in the sewer so the DPW crew stopped the sewage flow so it could extract the camera. After succeeding at extracting the camera, Susco alleges that the crew then let the raw sewage, "rip." This sudden gush of sewage headed down Bridge Road to point A (see top diagram) where Susco alleges the manhole cover was lifted two feet off of the ground as raw sewage rushed out onto the street. According to Susco the sewage included all kinds of solid waste including femine hygiene products, condoms, paper towels, feces and the like along with the presumed urine. He said he ended up with about four inches of raw sewage in his basement and that this was the second time the sewer has backed up since the last day of September, 2008. His total cleanup expenses thus far have exceeded $20,000 and he is filing a claim with the city for reimbursement.
Susco further alleges that part of the problem is that the Northampton Nursing Home continues to plug up the sewer at point B with solid wastes like paper towels and other products that find their way down its drains. He surmises that the manhole on Prospect Ave. may have been plugged or partially plugged on March 13 contributing to the backup in his home.
Clearly frustrated, Steve Susco has taken to making public comments during city council meetings asking for help with the issue and vows to continue, three minutes at a time. Though the city has taken some action to alleviate Susco's and his neighbor's dilemma, not enough has been done to ensure that people can live without fear that raw sewage will enter their residences. In the meantime, Susco has spent many unremunerated hours cleaning up his property and has buttoned up his belongings with tarps wrapped around pallets outside his back door. There is a bear often roaming the grounds for security he says.
temporary storage
Sewage flowed into the washing machine from point A through point B.
Former washing machine which was sanitized and reassembled after September, but sits here now unusable after the second backup.
Bridge Road was patched after the March 13 backup. Susco surmises the sewer was damaged when the street was repaved because an asphalt machine weighing many tons broke one of its tracks while running on top of the manhole. The damage may have contributed to the backups and was hopefully fixed this spring.
According to Susco, the sewage flow converges on the manhole from points A (Bridge Road), B (Northampton Nursing Home), D (Prospect Avenue) and out towards Jackson Street via C (Gleason Road).
One other perspective of the sewage path taken from Gleason Road facing the Nursing Home which is located behind the bushes.
