Town Meeting, April 11, 2023: Voting RESULTS for Article 25 – Appropriation for the Teaticket-Acapesket Service Area (Sewer project)

Article 25 (partial): To see if the Town will vote to appropriate a sum of money to fund … Phase 1 of the Teaticket-Acapesket Service Area… 

Voted by Town Meeting Members:

YES: 106

NO Ā  Ā  79

Motion FAILED having not fulfilled the 2/3rds vote requirement.

 

OUTFALL PIPE (for details, see prior post ā€œHeights Targeted for Ocean Outfall Pipeā€)

The Town’s current modern treatment plant removes nearly 95 percent of theĀ nitrogenĀ whileĀ the remaining 5 percent of nitrogenĀ enrichedĀ waste-water has been pumped into in-ground leaching beds which has found its way into West Falmouth Harbor resulting in aĀ nitrogenĀ overload situation.Ā 

TheĀ long-termĀ solution to this problem is an Ocean Outfall PipeĀ which would take the effluent offshore where it would be defused and diluted and flow out to sea. Any future Outfall Pipe would need to be financed and brought to Town Meeting with its own funding article.Ā Ā 

The issue of an Outfall Pipe was discussed for about 10 minutes.

TO WATCH this meeting: Go toĀ YouTube.comĀ and search for ā€œFalmouth Town Meeting April 11, 2023ā€.Ā  The meeting began at 7PM. This Article discussion began at 8:57 PM and lasted about an hour, so scroll to 1:57 hours to begin.Ā  A ten-minute discussion about Outfall Pipes started at 9:20 PM, so scroll to 2:20 hours to watch that.

 

See The Falmouth Enterprise 4/14/23 article ā€œFalmouth Town Meeting Denies Sewering Plan, Funds Treatment Facility Upgradesā€

Excerpt: Michael Duffany, Precinct Six, asked how long an ocean outfall pipe will take to permit and construct. The water quality management committee recently voted to pursue an outfall pipe as a long-term, sole-discharge site for all Falmouth’s wastewater, but Article 25 represented a short-term strategy until a pipe can be permitted.

Ms. Lowell said siting an outfall pipe is challenging and not guaranteed. The town needs more data before coming up with a timeline on how long it will take to construct one, he said.