New Bedford Completes $11M Sewer Separation Project

Work has officially been completed on the $11 million Coggeshall Street Sewer Separation Project in New Bedford. The project eliminates one of the city's combined sewere overflows, meaning there will be 2.4 million fewer gallons of wastewater spilling over into the city's upper harbor every year.

DPI Commissioner Zeb Arruda says the project achieved several goals. "We had to alleviate street flooding problems. We reduced the overflows into the harbor. And we addressed a lot of our aging infrastructure," said Arruda. Some of that infrastructure running under Coggeshall Street dated back to the late 1800s.

Over a mile of new sewer and drain lines was replaced between Jean and Mitchell Streets, with over 3,000 feet of sewer pipe repairs, and half a mile of new water mains.

Mark Rasmussen, Executive Director of the Buzzards Bay Coalition, says the continued improvements go a long way. "When you think about how clean the city beaches are, when you think about these amazing reopenings of shellfish beds - 15 years ago we had half the shellfish beds in New Bedford - amazing improvements," says Rasmussen. "These are the public benefits of all of this investment."

The next step is to improve the conditions of the roadway and sidewalks in the Coggeshall Street corridor, which will take place in the Spring of 2017.