Narragansett holds public hearing on draft wastewater facilities plan as residents complain of recurring sewer odors

The Narragansett Town Council on Aug. 4 held a public hearing on the town’s draft wastewater facilities plan, hearing detailed presentations from town engineer Jonathan Gerhard and Wright‑Pierce consultant Andrew Smith and more than a dozen residents who urged faster repairs to reduce recurring sewage odors around the Scarborough treatment plant.

The facilities plan update evaluates wastewater needs over a 20‑year planning period and recommends a multi‑phase program to address aging equipment, limited treatment capacity and pump‑station deficiencies. Wright‑Pierce’s preferred option calls for replacing the plant’s oxidation‑ditch process with a new conventional secondary treatment system and upgraded solids handling; the firm estimated Scarborough‑plant work at about $75 million and a townwide, 20‑year package — including collection‑system expansion and pump‑station upgrades — of roughly $204 million.

Why it matters: Residents said the plant’s odors have become a public‑health and quality‑of‑life problem and urged the council to limit new sewer connections until repairs are completed. The plan’s cost and reliance on state and federal grants, plus regional coordination with South Kingstown and the University of Rhode Island, mean any major construction will take years — while the community wants near‑term relief.

Wright‑Pierce engineer Andrew Smith summarized the technical recommendation as “abandoning the oxidation ditch, and . . . build[ing] a new secondary treatment process” with deeper tanks and more robust aeration to handle peak summer loads. Town engineer Jonathan Gerhard told the council the Scarborough plant’s trouble is not a steady shortfall but repeated shock loadings on summer peak days that the current oxidation‑ditch equipment cannot aerate fast enough. “The plant is within its hydraulic capacity, but its treatment capacity is stressed at times and then overwhelmed at times,” Gerhard said.

Wright‑Pierce’s draft breaks the Scarborough recommendation into three pieces: about $36 million of near‑term “baseline improvements” (headworks, influent pumping, disinfection and other aging equipment), roughly $33 million for the new secondary treatment tanks and about $6 million for improved solids dewatering rather than the existing liquid sludge disposal. The firm also identified roughly $105 million of sewer‑collection projects (to serve unsewered neighborhoods over 20 years) and about $24 million of pump‑station work. Smith said sludge disposal is changing regionally because the Woonsocket incinerator is phasing out liquid sludge acceptance, increasing pressure to adopt dewatering technology locally.

Several residents described repeated, strong odors and health impacts. Resident Angela Such said she and neighbors ‘‘cannot sit outside’’ because of the smell and called for both near‑term detectors and longer‑term plant upgrades. David Sutch told the council, “We need to do something immediately to get rid of the smell,” and urged a moratorium on new sewer tie‑ins until the plant is fixed. Longtime resident Jack Dwyer said the odors have also caused headaches and nausea for family members and asked whether building permits should have been issued for nearby housing given the plant’s condition.

Council members and staff acknowledged the public concern and described a constrained timetable set by the plan’s grant and permitting process. Gerhard said the town must submit a revised draft to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) by Aug. 18 to keep federal funding timelines and that RIDEM’s public notice and review would follow; the consultants expect final RIDEM approval in the fall if the schedule holds.

Council action and next steps: The council voted 4–0 to open the hearing, accepted public comment and voted 4–0 to close the hearing after testimony and the consultant presentation. The plan itself will be revised to incorporate public and RIDEM comments and returned for RIDEM review and, after RIDEM approval, formal adoption by the town council. If adopted, the project will then proceed to design and funding steps; Wright‑Pierce and the town expect a multiyear design, permitting and funding sequence that will include grant and low‑interest loan sources.

What residents asked for now: more frequent on‑site staffing during peak summer weekends, short‑term odor‑control measures and neighborhood sensors or alarms to detect hydrogen sulfide and other compounds when odor events begin. Consultants and town staff said short‑term portable aeration equipment had been tried this season and that they would investigate additional temporary controls while pursuing long‑term reconstruction.

Costs, timing and regional coordination: Wright‑Pierce projected the Scarborough plant upgrades at approximately $75 million and townwide sewer and pump‑station work at more than $120 million, with a total program over $200 million when phased over two decades. The plan also flags a regional capacity issue at the Westmoreland (regional) plant operated by South Kingstown and noted Narragansett’s current leased capacity there; Wright‑Pierce said Narragansett needs roughly 1.0 million gallons per day of additional regional capacity in coming years and that timing and cost for that regional work are tied to South Kingstown and URI planning and agreements.

Council members said they would forward detailed financial questions to the finance board and seek financing options in parallel with pursuing RIDEM and grant approvals. The planning board had reviewed and recommended Alternative 3 (the replacement option) and asked the council to seek finance‑committee review of phasing and funding strategies.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to open and hold a public hearing on the town’s draft Wastewater Facilities Plan — Passed 4–0. (Motion recorded on Aug. 4 public meeting.)

- Motion to close the public hearing on the draft Wastewater Facilities Plan — Passed 4–0. (Motion recorded on Aug. 4 public meeting.)

What’s next: The town will incorporate oral and written comments from the hearing and submit a revised draft to RIDEM by Aug. 18; RIDEM’s review and public‑notice process is expected to follow (consultant projected final RIDEM approval in early October), after which the council will consider formal adoption and sequence funding and design work.

Ending note: Council members and staff told residents they would continue short‑term mitigation work while pursuing the longer, more costly upgrades that Wright‑Pierce says will be needed to stop repeated summer odor events and make the plant resilient to future peak loads.