Fw: Orchard Street Sewer request

[jlau...@comcast.net]

Attached, as promised, are the reports for Orchard,, to provide context on the Elm Street sewer reports sent previously.    Two segment are rated fair, one excellent, the rest good.

Lee

_________________
Josiah Lee Auspitz
17 Chapel Street 

Somerville, MA 02144 

Landline phone: 617-628-6228 fax: 617-628-9441

Phones do not receive text messages

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From: JOSIAH AUSPITZ <jlau...@comcast.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2026 9:22 AM
To: tpr...@gmail.com <tpr...@gmail.com>
Subject: Fwd: Orchard Street Sewer request

 

 

---------- Original Message ----------

From: Kevin Roche <kro...@somervillema.gov>

To: "jlau...@comcast.net" <jlau...@comcast.net>

Cc: Public Records <public...@somervillema.gov>, Elaine Almquist <elaine....@gmail.com>, Brian Postlewaite <bpostl...@somervillema.gov>

Date: 01/21/2026 3:32 PM EST

Subject: Orchard Street Sewer request

 

 

Lee,

 

Here are the Orchard Street sewer inspection reports from 2024. National Water Main Cleaning Co. inspected all of Somerville’s sewer mains in Orchard Street from Meacham Street to Russell Street. Note: CSMH = combined sewer manhole.

 

• Inspection Report 1: from buried fitting near 160 Orchard Street (close to Meacham Street intersection) to Dover Street intersection.
• Inspection Report 2: from buried fitting near 141 Orchard Street to CSMH 20’ southeasterly near 139 Orchard Street.
• Inspection Report 3: from Inspection Report 2 terminus to CSMH in Day Street intersection.
• Inspection Report 4: from buried fitting near 131 Orchard Street to CSMH near 125 Orchard Street.
• Inspection Report 5: from Inspection Report 4 terminus to CSMH in Chester Street intersection.
• Inspection Report 6: from CSMH near 105 Orchard Street to buried fitting in Milton Street intersection.
• Inspection Report 6a: from CSMH near 105 Orchard Street to buried fitting 14’ northwesterly on Orchard Street.
• Inspection Report 7: from Inspection Report 6 terminus to CSMH in Russell Street intersection.

 

Please see below for a condition summary based on the PACP Rating Description and Overall Pipe Rating provided in each report.

 

• Inspection Report 1: Fair condition.
• Inspection Report 2: Excellent condition.
• Inspection Report 3: Good condition.
• Inspection Report 4: Excellent condition.
• Inspection Report 5: Good condition.
• Inspection Report 6: Excellent condition.
• Inspection Report 6a: Excellent condition.
• Inspection Report 8: Fair condition.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions. I will follow up this email with the Orchard Street data request in the coming days.

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin Roche, PE (MA)

Deputy Director of Engineering Services

City of Somerville

Department of Infrastructure and Asset Management

1 Franey Road

Somerville, MA 02144

(617) 625-6600 x5417

 

 

 
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[Carol]

What happens when you 500 apartment to the area?

Carol R

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[jlau...@comcast.net]

Yes, that is the question, Carol.  When Tom Galligani met with the DSNC in early January, he was asked about sewage issues.  He professed ignorance, but promised to get back to us.  So far, he hasn't.   The 40B application from Copper Mill gives the diameter of the sewage lines but no info on their condition.  

I am reliably informed that greater volume as such is not a problem.  The issue for Davis Sq-- and Somerville more generally-- is that we have a combined sewage-cum-rainwater system, so that there is the possibility of overflow  from storm drains during heavy rains in some places that may require lining or replacing pipes (e.g. Morrison Avenue).   

My personal experience in this is limited to having negotiated a pipe job for my late daughter's three-unit condo on an East Cambridge street that has had about a dozen pipe jobs where the sewage backup goes into ground floor units.  It is pretty disgusting-- not to mention the health hazard.

Lee

_________________
Josiah Lee Auspitz
17 Chapel Street 

Somerville, MA 02144 

Landline phone: 617-628-6228 fax: 617-628-9441

Phones do not receive text messages

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From: 'Carol' via Davis Square Neighborhood Council <daviss...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2026 4:14 PM
To: jlau...@comcast.net <jlau...@comcast.net>; daviss...@googlegroups.com <daviss...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [DSNC] Fw: Orchard Street Sewer request

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[Jeff Byrnes]

There used to be about 20k more people living in Somerville in the 1930s & 1940s, so as Lee says, volume is not the issue.

The combined sewage + stormwater is the issue, and it is being actively rebuilt (e.g., Spring Hill Sewer Separation Project, Mystic River Outfall & Sewer Separation). Unfortunately, this is a massive program of projects, costing billions (I’ve heard Rich Raiche say the price tag is ~$3B in total) while also being laborious, disruptive, and time-consuming.

I remember when we moved to Summer St, they were re-doing Cedar St’s sewers. They did a cut-and-cover to speed things up & reduce costs, which meant whole stretches of Cedar (e.g, Summer → Elm) were open trenches & unable to be used as roads. Wild stuff!

Food for thought: one of the few things that helps us pay for infrastructure work like that is new buildings, such as the Copper Mill proposal. Proposition 2½ means we cannot arbitrarily raise property taxes, but new buildings are exempt from that law so they are our best way to increase city revenue. Which means Assembly & Union Sq have funded a lot of stuff!

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[jlau...@comcast.net]

Jeff,

I don't think either of us is qualified to render a definitive opinion on the sewage issue as it relates to the specific insertion of one or, with Asana,  two 500-unit residential towers onto Elm Street.  This and other infrastructure issues remain to be addressed by the City as part of a comprehensive Davis Square plan.

I was careful to convey the opinion of  an expert that "volume as such" is not the issue; however,  any sharp increase in the proportion of fecal matter in a potential storm water overflow is one of several topics that would seem to justify a return to the Davis Square planning process before we get onto the 40B roller coaster.  As of Monday's vote, a substantial majority of the DSNC would appear to agree. 

Lee

PS With all due respect, your argument that Somerville had a larger population 80-100 years ago, when the sewage system was that much younger, seems to me to underline rather than refute the need to proceed with due diligence on this and other infrastructure issues. jla

_________________
Josiah Lee Auspitz
17 Chapel Street 

Somerville, MA 02144 

Landline phone: 617-628-6228 fax: 617-628-9441

Phones do not receive text messages

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From: daviss...@googlegroups.com <daviss...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jeff Byrnes <je...@somervilleyimby.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2026 12:52 PM
To: daviss...@googlegroups.com <daviss...@googlegroups.com>; Carol <crego...@aol.com>; jlau...@comcast.net <jlau...@comcast.net>

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[Michael Chiu]

There was a story on WBUR this week re: a similar infrastructure concern - is the electrical grid sufficient to support new development.  Stated that the Commonwealth is working to provide pro-active assessments of capacity to reduce the impact (time and expense) on projects.

My guess is that this won't be an issue for any Davis Square development as we have a substation on Willow with lots of room to expand.   

I can't find the story, but here's a link to the program: https://www.mass.gov/news/healey-driscoll-administration-and-electric-utilities-launch-the-power-forward-initiative-to-build-housing-faster-and-lower-costs

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[Samantha Nicely]

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[Christopher Beland]

On Wed, 2026-01-28 at 20:31 +0000, 'jlau...@comcast.net' via Davis Square Neighborhood Council wrote:

This and other infrastructure issues remain to be addressed by the City as part of a comprehensive Davis Square plan.

On this issue, there is no point waiting for the Davis Square Neighborhood Plan. It will not include specific recommendations on what to do about the sewer system, nor will it say what on-site requirements should be. If you look at the Assembly Square Neighborhood Plan, it just says how many gallons per day per bedroom or square foot of office space development produces, and recommends doing a stormwater management plan. It shows where existing sewer and storm drain lines are, but doesn't say anything about where new or upgraded pipes would be needed (though it expects they might be). It does include retaining some civic green space, which could be used in some unspecified way for stormwater management.

The Copper Mill 40B proposal includes a planted area on the boundary with 20 Grove Street and an underground stormwater management system (which uses sand). Currently there are no stormwater management systems, and the entire site is impervious, including the roofs and the paved parking lot in back. Given that it's stormwater, not domestic sewage, that causes overflows into Alewife Brook, this project should actually contribute to a net decrease in combined sewer overflows. The Davis Square Neighborhood Plan draft envisions a possible mini-park at Cutter Plaza, but until that's actually constructed, no buildings could use it for stormwater retention. In the meantime, doing stormwater management on-site means each building does its fair share, and maybe some day the park can be used to retain stormwater that falls on public streets. The city says we're actually supposed to get bioswales for that purpose here on Jay Street.

Given that the sewage system has the capacity to handle the domestic sewage from this development and we will keep the same number of pipe-miles, we should welcome having more property tax revenue and over 500 more paying customers for the Somerville Water and Sewer Department. Putting an apartment building of any size here will help spread the cost of major improvements (stormwater tanks, sewer separation, ancient pipe rehab) across more people, lowering all of our bills. The more people who live here, the bigger the benefit to everyone else.

-B.