South Beach St. Sewer Force Main Project

Following the retreat of storm surge and coastal floodwaters associated with the "Bomb Cyclone" of January 4, 2018, the Town of Nantucket suffered a sewer force main failure in the South Beach Street area between Sea Street and Broad Street.

Once the seriousness of the failure had been confirmed, the Town temporarily diverted sewage flows into Nantucket Harbor to otherwise avoid backups into homes and other properties in the area.

Over the next two days and nights, the Town’s Contractor, Robert B. Our, Inc., with the assistance of various Town Departments, successfully bypassed the sewage flow to an alternate forcemain, thereby ending the discharge to Nantucket Harbor.

Thankfully since the break occurred after flood waters had receded, the areas on land contaminated with sewage flows were limited to within the street in relatively small areas along South Beach Street, South Beach Street Extension, and Easy Street near the bulkhead.

The Town hired Clean Harbors, Inc. to conservatively decontaminate these areas by applying and removing a chlorine solution to surfaces (sidewalks and streets) and subsurface utilities (vaults, manholes, conduits, and water meter pits).

On January 8, the Town initiated a Harbor water sampling and testing regimen at various locations to monitor water quality changes.

The Town hired Engineers, Environmental Partners Group, Inc., to assist with the forensic analysis and determination of the cause of the break as well as to develop bid documents for a pipeline condition assessment.

On Monday February 5, 2018 the Town's contractor, Robert B. Our, arrived to South Beach Street to begin with dewatering efforts. The contract duration with Robert B. Our is for 45 days and the total cost $2,717,993.00.

The Town is working  with Town's engineer, Environmental Partners Group, Inc. to design an alternative sewer forcemain route from Sea Street to the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Once the compromised sewer forcemain has been assessed, Engineers will recommend next steps.