The Warwick City Council approved Monday $7 million in bonding to finance sewage system improvements.

According to the ordinance funds would be used to repair, equip and extend the system’s interceptors, trunk lines, pumps, pipes and manholes. This would be funded by a revenue bond from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, according to the document. It would be paid off solely from the revenues of Warwick’s sewer system.

Council members Timothy Howe and Donna Travis explained during the finance committee meeting that their wards have had major issues with the current sewer system. Howe said that outside of a pump station in his ward, there was a collapse because sewer gas and odors corroded the piping. Howe also recalled a sinkhole on Sandy Lane caused by a collapsed sewer pipe. He blamed the previous administration for not taking the sewer issues seriously.

“I really would love to see this [ordinance] go favorable action,” Travis said “We definitely don’t need what happened on Sandy Lane to happen to any other places. I know this both affects Councilman Howe and myself in two different locations but the piping is very bad as [Executive Director of the Warwick Sewer Authority ] Earl Bond will tell you, and it's going to affect so many people in our ward.”

Bond said the 48-inch airport interceptor, which was built 60 years ago, receives wastewater from the north and south ends of the city and has a flow of 3.5 million gallons a day. He said that this number does not fill the pipe, and hydrogen sulfide has been created as a result, corroding the pipes. Bond explained that the pipe’s continued deterioration could disrupt service. Bond also mentioned that the Oakland Beach interceptor, which has the pipe that failed at Sandy Lane as well as the Cedar Swamp line that also needs to be rehabilitated.

Councilman and Finance Committee Chair Ed Ladacouer said that while he believes fixing the city’s sewer is important, he had concerns regarding funding coming solely from the sewer authority. He felt that paying for the sewers through a general obligation bond, or city funds, instead of a revenue fund, would be more practical. He used school taxes as a comparison, explaining that many residents with no children still have to pay for schools. Ladouceur said sewers are a public investment that should be treated the same way.

 He still supported the bond because he felt that the infrastructure was in such bad shape there was no choice but to fund it.

“ I absolutely support the concept of this, I support the necessity of it,” Ladacoeur said. “I do not necessarily agree that it should be paid for only by the clients or customers of the sewer authority. But I do understand the need for what it is.”

Ladacouer also said that the sewer system’s main problem is not the sewer authority overestimating how full pipes get, as suggested by Bond, but that not many people use the sewers.

“What has occurred is in under usage and is not underestimated or overestimated,” Ladacouer said “It's under usage of the sewer authority. And that is because this city has never implemented mandatory connection or any other type of requirement to reach the anticipated this is that the system was designed for. To this day, I still do not believe that 60 percent of the city is sewered. That is why based upon the installation that has been provided to me from the sewer authority over the years, that we have infrastructure, at least this particular type of infrastructure failure, which is hydrogen sulfide, which is occurring because of underflow and in the system.”

Councilman Richard Corley was the most critical on the council regarding the legislation. He felt that the legislation was not specific enough regarding exactly where and when construction would occur. He also said that although the council discussed places that needed interceptors repaired, the legislation did not guarantee that high-risk areas would be improved.

“I have no disagreement that our infrastructure needs to be improved,” Corley said. “But there is nothing in this ordinance that says that this money is going to be earmarked for any specific project. The only thing that says it will be used for are the same things that I've done in every project. So, I'm just thinking that this is not specific, and they've decided that $7 million is enough. I know that Governor Francis [sewer project] phase three itself cost a little over $5 million. So they must have some sort of a plan as to what they going to do, but we don't have it. And I would like to hear from sewer authority, concerning what it is, that is contained within the project, and how they came up with the figure of $7 million.”

The finance committee recommended favorable action. The council then voted 8-1 following the recommendation, with Corley as the only dissenting vote.