AGAWAM – Feeding Hills residents turned up at the City Council meeting on Dec. 18 to implore the council to move forward with a long-tabled project.

At a public hearing regarding his recently submitted petition, resident Will Clark, along with a number of neighbors and citizens pleaded with the council to properly fund and complete the installation of sewers in areas currently served by septic systems. The work was indefinitely put on hold in 2012 after the completion of the project’s first phase.

Clark, citing reports from environmental agencies and engineering firm Tighe & Bond, was highly critical of the council’s decision to table the project, accusing the councilors of using fiscal constraints as an excuse while ignoring negative impacts to residents’ quality of life and the environment.

“All we heard was that it cost too much money. Money, money, money, money,” he said. “What about health concerns? What about the stormwater permits? What about illicit discharge? What about people having to adjust their daily lives? We didn’t hear any of this.”

He noted that Tighe & Bond found while surveying residents in 2004 – most notably in the “areas of need” including Bradford Drive, White Fox Road, Tobacco Farm Road, North West Street and Gillette Circle – that many experienced backed up toilets and couldn’t take showers or wash clothes due to complications with septic systems and that there were an inordinate number of septic system failures.

Tighe & Bond, he added, found that soil testing, property inspections and water quality testing backed up claims that septic system problems were significant due to poor soil conditions, high water tables and small lot sizes.

Water testing illustrated that the fecal coliform levels in 8 out of 10 bodies of water sampled were well above acceptable levels, Clark noted, citing the report. With 200 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters (mL) being the standard, he said the Kathy Wetlands were as high as 2,100 per 100 mL, while others registered just at the threshold or above – between 240 and 700 per 100 mL.

“Clearly there is an illicit discharge that is significant,” he said.

Clark added the water in these areas runs off and pools on residential property.

“People are living with failing septic systems where there’s fecal matter in their yards,” he said. “It’s probably not very healthy is it? But did anyone care? No. Money, money, money.”

Clark also questioned the lack of involvement from the Board of Health, the Department of Public Works and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Doug Reed, a resident of Shelley Lane, pointed out to the council that Tighe & Bond has recognized the need for sewers in Feeding Hills since 1972, when it completed its report on sanitary and sewer system expansion for the town of Agawam, the same year the federal Clean Water Act went into effect.

“It’s an absolute embarrassment and I challenge anybody to argue with me that this is not an embarrassment,” he said. “This is grossly unfair to the residents of this town. I live in Feeding Hills, but damn it, I live in Agawam.”

He asserted Feeding Hills residents are treated like “a second class level of citizen” and proposed the creation of a task force that would include Mayor-elect Bill Sapelli, two members of the city council, two DPW designees, two Feeding Hills residents, one representative from the large business and small business communities and a representative from Tighe & Bond.

Melissa Izzo, who bought a house in Feeding Hills in 2009 under the understanding that sewer systems would be coming soon, said she has told friends not to buy in the area.

“I don’t care about the past,” she said. “All I know is now it is bad.”

Echoing those sentiments, another speaker said she could not willingly sell her home to her children or any other family with the knowledge she has of the issues. Another noted in addition to fecal matter, medications and other chemicals may also be in contaminated water produced by failing systems.

Other residents suggested that the original plan spearheaded by Councilor Robert Rossi would have produced positive results with the majority of the area benefitting from sewer hookups.

Several councilors voiced their support for discussion on the subject in 2018 when new councilors and Sapelli are sworn in.

Councilor Richard Theroux, participating in his final meeting, criticized the city for its poor approach to capital planning. He thanked residents for coming to speak out on the issue, but added, “In reality, you shouldn’t have had to come here at all.”

Rossi noted in his comments that many of the things he put forth in his initial plan could still be enacted. He estimated phase two of the project could be completed for between $10 and $11 million and would not require a large increase in water and sewer rates.

“The project could be done … Everything is still there – the designing and the engineering is still there,” he said. “Anybody who wants to get this project going, it should just be a simple matter to get it done in here. We don’t need to be assigning blame; what we need to do is get it done.”?