Question: What's Going on With the Pumping Station?

Welcome to You Ask, Patch Answers, a column in which you ask us a question about anything going on in town and we do our best to find an answer. Got a question you'd like to see Patch answer? E-mail it to: terry.date@patch.com

A reader asked us for the latest information about the town pumping station, including the round-the-clock monitoring of the temporary by-pass system there and who will pay for the monitoring.

In September, a system failure resulted in flooding at the Humphrey Street station — 18 feet of wastewater filled the basement and half the floor above it.

The town installed an emergency sewer by-pass outside the station to pump its wastewater to the Lynn Treatment plant and prevent raw sewage from backing into homes, officials said.

The temporary system remains in operation and will remain in place until station repairs are complete. 

We put the reader's question to Director Gino Cresta.

The director said, yes, the town has one person, at all times, monitoring the Humphrey station's two temporary pumps and 18-inch by-pass pipe.

The 24/7 monitoring is both required by town insurance and necessary, he said. A malfunction could result in raw sewage being spilled.

The repairs to the station have been delayed due to insurance issues, he said. Cresta estimates completion of the work in 4-6 weeks.

As far as the monitoring expense goes, the manning of the site is not necessarily covered by town insurance, the director said.

The town is hopeful it will be covered, but, if not, it will seek to have the party responsible for the damage pay for the monitoring, he said.