Insituform is a construction company that specializes in cured-in-place pipe refurbishment method, or CIPP. Some of its workers can be seen applying the technique on Larkin Road. Photo by Eli Pekelny.
Some residents are complaining about the smell and steam coming from work on sewer lines and manholes in South Brookline.
While neighbors say they find the work disruptive, they understand it has to be done.
Brookline has about 100 miles of sewer lines, according to the town’s water and sewer director, Jay Hersey. The sewer system dates back over 100 years, so maintenance is crucial, Hersey said.
“It helps keep all that clear water out of the system, which people have to pay for,” Hersey said. “Anytime we can get that out, it just saves everybody and it also protects the asset.”
However, residents in the area say it’s causing a stink. Retired police officer Debbie Hatzieleftheriadis said there are visible fumes and a “lingering smell in the air” while the work is being done.
Hersey described the smell as something you would smell in an auto repair shop. Hatzieleftheriadis disagreed.
“It smells like a faint smell of sewage,” Hatzieleftheriadis said. “It’s heavy, too.”
Starting in mid-March, residents on affected streets received 24-hour notices before the work for each day began. These notices warn about the odor, as well as about parking potentially being blocked by the large trucks carrying equipment and crew.
The notices also instruct residents to limit their water use to an “absolute minimum” while work is being done and sewer service is paused. That means activities such as washing clothes, using sinks and taking showers are a no-go — unless a resident wants their outflow to back up into their property.
What’s going on
The project, which was started in 2016, runs annually, each year in a new part of town. So far, Hersey said the town has refurbished about 47 miles of the 100 miles of sewer pipes all over the town. This year, it was time for the project to come to South Brookline, specifically around the Larz Anderson Park area.
The contractor doing this year’s work is Insituform, a construction company that specializes in the cured-in-place pipe refurbishment method, or CIPP.
CIPP works by creating a pipe inside of a pipe, with no need to dig anything up. Essentially, a flexible resin-soaked tube gets pulled into a pipe that needs work. Then, the tube gets inflated from within until it takes the shape of the host pipe. Once in place, the tube is cured until it is hard.
What’s good about CIPP, Hersey said, is that it is less invasive than traditional sewer pipe refurbishment.
“If you had to replace that sewer with conventional excavation digging to put a new pipe in the ground, it’s going to be far more expensive and far more intrusive, because now you’re digging up the road, you’re going to have to reroute traffic,” Hersey said.
While the entire project is slated to end in 2032, Hersey said the work for this year should end this May or June.
“It’s temporary,” Hersey said. “Please bear with us. It’s just going to help save you some money in the long run.”
What people are saying
The work has sparked complaints on Facebook from neighbors who say they can’t stomach the odors.
Hatzieleftheriadis was tending to the flowers in her garden when she caught a whiff of the work being done in her neighborhood.
“It’s awful,” Hatzieleftheriadis said. “I don’t think there’s any way you can sugarcoat that. It’s just from our toilets.”
However, as a town meeting member, Hatzieleftheriadis said she understands that the project is part of the much-needed maintenance of old sewer lines.
“It’s something that has to be done,” Hatzieleftheriadis said. “The first day that I smelled [the odor], my windows were open. So now just make sure they’re shut.”
Other neighbors spoke to Brookline.News about the odors but said they didn’t want to be quoted by name.
Nadia Al-Masri, a speech language pathologist and one of Hatzieleftheriadis’s neighbors, said the trucks at the worksites block her parking in the morning when she’s trying to get to work. That, plus the recommendation to not use tap water while work is being done, interrupts her morning routine, she said.
“Obviously a little disruptive,” Al-Masri said. “[I’m] trying to get ready for work and head out the door.”
However, Al-Masri said she recognizes that the workers are only trying to get their job done.
“It’s intrusive, but they have a job to do,” Al-Marsi said. “Hopefully done sooner than later.”
Hatzieleftheriadis said projects like these are part of living in a town and “if you have to do it, what are you going to do?”
“Things get old. Things have to be redone,” Hatzieleftheriadis said. “Sometimes you have to suffer a little bit for the benefit.”
This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.