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Date: 6/22/2022
EASTHAMPTON – In a continued effort to create a greener community, the city of Easthampton is in the process of tangibly starting a project on Cherry Street to bring in more green infrastructure and replace the aging sewer and water lines beneath the street.
Green infrastructure allows water to drain into the ground through grass, soil and rain gardens. Gray infrastructure is what is normally seen with manholes, dams, pipes and sewer systems.
According to Assistant City Planner Jamie Webb, the goals of this project are focused on building resiliency for increased future precipitation due to climate change and to collect stormwater and allow it to infiltrate the ground.
Webb has been working on this project for multiple years. Four years ago, the city completed the integrated water resources management plan which is an attempt to manage the water supply, wastewater and stormwater systems in order to coordinate management development of these resources to maximize the economic and social benefit while minimizing the impact on the environment.
During the process, the Cherry Street infrastructure drainage was identified as a top priority for the city.
“It’s an infrastructure replacement project with replacement of the sewer lines, the water lines and the stormwater system on Cherry Street as well as reconstructing the stormwater outfall at the end of Cherry Street that leads into Brookyard Brook,” Webb said. “We are trying to use green infrastructure to replace the traditional stormwater system.”
Webb said traditionally stormwater would be collected via drains and conveyed by pipes directly into the city’s waterways. For a number of reasons this practice can cause many different environmental problems according to Webb, and the green infrastructure replacement will hopefully help avoid these situations.
The changes would put Cherry Street measurements at 20 feet wide for the road and 5 feet wide for the sidewalk. The sidewalk side would see the addition of a sediment forebay and tree box filter, while the other side of the street would add 3-foot wide bioretention planters. Curbing to separate the road, the sidewalk and people’s lawn edges will be added as well.
The bioretention planters will provide an opportunity to create space along the streetscape where they will have inlets form the street through a cut in the curb to allow water to come in, rather than going straight down into a catch basin or drain. The inlets will also catch any sediment, sand or grit that may be on the road, or any larger debris and it will be easier to clean than the current infrastructure.
When the water overflows in the inlet, it will go into the planting area next to it and even in the event that the planter gets too full, there will be overflow structures that allow extra water to be returned to the drainage pipes.
A tree box filter has the same principles as a planter, however it has a different design. Essentially, there is a tree with some sort of grate on top to catch any debris and prevent the tree from being a trip hazard. There will also be an inlet in the curb for the water.
“What we’re trying to do is use green infrastructure to capture the water closer to where it falls and slowing it down and allowing that water to infiltrate into the ground directly rather than get it piped into the brooks,” Webb said. “That process helps to treat any of the containments that the rain water might have picked up. By slowing the water down, it allows the water aquifer to recharge as well as allow the streams and brooks to maintain a more constant water level over time. We’re hoping to reduce the amount of water getting into the stream and slowing down the water that does get there. We also want the water that enters to be cleaner and it’s just overall better for the health of the stream.”
Two years ago, the city received $175,957 from the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Action Grant program to design and complete permitting for the Cherry Street green infrastructure and streetscape improvements for the green infrastructure master plan that was created in response to learning of the status of drainage and sewage infrastructure in the city.
The city has received just shy of $3 million from the MVP Action Grant program, according to Webb. This funding has gone toward design components, engineering, administrative funds and construction oversight costs. This funding was aimed towards the green infrastructure and stormwater and drainage improvements.
The city has also received grants and additional funding from the Community Development Block Grant program where they have received $800,000 toward the sewer and water line components of the project. During their June 15 meeting, the City Council also approved separate grant matching funds of $287,769.80 to begin construction on the project later this summer.
The current gray infrastructure below Cherry Street following completion of the project will see some notable changes. According to Webb, the water service lines on Cherry Street will be entirely replaced.
“There’s a number of different pieces of this project coming together. The infrastructure – the water, the sewer and the stormwater – were all put in about 100 years ago in this neighborhood so it’s just old and it’s breaking,” Webb said. “The sewer pipes are amongst the highest need for replacement in the city just because of over the last however many years, DPW (Department of Public Works) has had a large number of emergency repairs they have to do in that neighborhood related to the sewer lines breaking or backing up.”
Webb added it is best practice for the city to replace the lines now due to their age and condition. The stormwater pipes will be also be replaced with similar sized pipes but the addition of green infrastructure will reduce the amount the new pipes are used.
“That’s partly because with climate change, we are expecting to have more intense storms and so if we were to use the old method [gray infrastructure] we would need to be putting in much larger pipes in order to have them sized for the larger storms,” Webb said.
By reducing the amount of water that needs to go into these pipes through the green infrastructure it will provide an easement to the entire system. Webb added there will still be drainage pipes in the street, but the intent is that unless there is more than an inch of rain in a rainfall event, they will not be used.
Webb said a benefit of the project is the idea that more projects like this are in the city’s future and Cherry Street will serve as a learning lesson in the best way to approach these changes in other neighborhoods.
“This is a way for the city to learn. We haven’t done a retrofit green infrastructure project before. What we’ll learn from this is where else or how else we can put these in,” Webb said. “Climate change impacts are going to infect the entire city and we don’t have the dollars or time to replace all of the storm water lines with bigger pipes. We’re going to have to put in green infrastructure, rain gardens and retrofit as much as we can while continuing to use the existing infrastructure where it’s still adequate.”
Construction of replacement of the gray infrastructure is scheduled to begin later this summer as the city finalizes contracts with contractors. Webb estimates the contractor will begin mobilization in the next couple weeks as they have begun ordering certain materials and supplies for the project, but that supply chain issues may cause some sort of delay.
“The contractors are estimating they’ll have enough materials on hand by the end of July to actually start construction,” Webb said.
Construction will be done in sections, starting with the sewer infrastructure and working up to water pipes. After that work is completed, they will add the green infrastructure above and finish the sidewalks and landscaping on the street by next spring. Webb said the city expects the project to be fully completed by June 30, 2023, as that is the deadline for the use of grant funding, but she expects the project to be complete before the winter.