Cedar Point Sewer Replacement

  • Client

    Town of Scituate

  • EP’s Role

    Prime

  • Awards

    Engineering Excellence Silver Award, American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA), 2022,
    National Recognition Award, American Council of Engineering Companies, 2022

EP was retained by the Town of Scituate Department of Public Works (DPW) to provide engineering services for the replacement of the existing gravity sewer serving the Cedar Point neighborhood. The project was driven by the excessive inflow and infiltration entering the sewer system, which caused the treatment plant to operate at or near maximum capacity and resulted in a moratorium on new connections to the system.

Cedar Point is a small and beautiful seacoast neighborhood of Scituate, attracting tourists to its lighthouse, and residents who wish to enjoy beaches year-round. Sadly, the peninsula has also been plagued by climate change related sewer issues. EP took an innovative approach to solving these issues, designing, sourcing, and overseeing construction of a water-tight gravity sewer system. This method required extreme precision at every phase and has successfully fulfilled the needs of the Cedar Point community.

EP functioned as lead designer while providing bidding assistance, construction administration, and resident engineering. Additionally, public outreach and communications were vital for the small coastal community and EP was successful in working with and gaining immense support from the community and decision makers. The scope of EP’s work included the replacement of approximately 4,300 feet of 10-inch and 12-inch pipe, manholes, and laterals from the sewer main to each house foundation.

Construction was challenging due to the narrow roads, density of existing utilities, high groundwater conditions that are tidally influenced, and proximity of homes. An additional unique component was the extra efforts required to propose, approve, and successfully install sewer line replacements from every single home. While homeowners are almost always solely responsible for the sewer connection from their home, EP knew that it was in the best interest of the community to address mainlines during construction. Thus, construction included bringing the lines directly to all residents. All system updates occurred while the existing system remained in use.

Construction of the project was completed in October 2021. The flow in the sewer system in this area has decreased six-fold during storm events since these improvements have been constructed, and overall town-wide capacity has been restored. In addition, the project was completed with less than 1.5% change orders during construction.

Key Team Members