Eastham’s Ocean to the Bay Water System Project

Eastham’s Ocean to the Bay Water System Project in MA was recently named a 2017 Public Works Project of the Year by the American Public Works Association (APWA). The project is being honored with APWA’s Project of the Year award in the Small Cities/Rural Communities – Environment category. This award honors agencies representing cities and communities with a population of 75,000 or less that include treatment and recycling facilities, landfill reclamation projects, sewer projects, etc.

The Small Cities/Rural Communities Project of the Year Award was established to promote excellence in demonstrating creativity, ingenuity and efficiency in the delivery of public works projects that have a profound impact on the community. For 2017, the team of winners includes the Town of Eastham, MA, as the managing agency; Robert B. Our Co., Inc. as the primary contractor; and Environmental Partners Group, Inc., as the primary consultant; who will be presented with the award during APWA’s 2017 PWX, Public Works Expo, annual conference taking place in Orlando, FL Ceremony during August 27-30, 2017.

Eastham is a small town without any municipal infrastructure for water supply or wastewater disposal. Several issues were driving the community’s interest in developing a town-wide water system, not least of which was a well documented trend of the residents’ private wells impacted by discharges of nitrates and other compounds from nearby onsite wastewater discharges. In addition, the closed landfill in the town was also adversely impacting groundwater and private water wells with volatile organic compounds. In addition, without a municipal water system, Eastham had limited ability to provide fire protection to residents and businesses.

The town enlisted Environmental Partners Group, Inc. to provide evaluation and design expertise as the Board of Selectmen sought to understand the complexities of initiating new infrastructure, its effect on the community, and the reasonable management of its cost. Environmental Partners remained involved, from the early phases of the project through the design, permitting, construction and the operation of the water system to ensure that the Board was well prepared for each aspect of the system’s implementation, as well as the community’s concerns and questions each step of the way. As a result of an extensive educational outreach program that included meetings with individual commercial and residential taxpayers, numerous Saturday and evening workshops, and a concerted effort from Environmental Partners to garner support from key regulatory agencies, including the Department of Environmental Protection and the Cape Cod Commission, the Eastham community ultimately supported the project and authorized funding of $45 million for a full, town-wide water system.

This was the single largest commitment the town has ever made in its history. The installation of water mains along a six-mile stretch of Route 6, to serve the commercial hub of the town, along with additional residences, is the largest linear utility project in the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s District 5’s history, and it was all done working around the heavy seasonal traffic of Cape Cod. The first phase of the water system is completed to the point where the system is in operation, there are working fire hydrants and, by mid-November 2016, water was being delivered to properties. The project was substantially completed on time and on budget with change orders at less than 0.5% for the entire $45 million budget.

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