The Charles River Watershed Association (the Association) has performed a study of the possibility of smart sewering for the commercial district on South Street between Route 495 and the Plainville town line, and the commercial district at the center of town. The Association offered to perform this study for the Town under a grant that they received from the Barr Foundation.

The Association is performing this study because its mission is "to use science, advocacy, and the law to protect, preserve and enhance the Charles River and its watershed". One method of pursuing its mission is to address low flows in the Charles River due in part to pumping water from the Charles River watershed and not returning the wastewater to the same watershed, for which the Association advocates smart sewering. The Association also endorses smart sewering as a planning and development tool that"links the power of water/wastewater availability to focus dense growth in a particular place" and promotes that "this approach also makes wastewater, in combination with commercial food waste and septage, a resource to generate renewable electric energy".

The Smart Sewering Steering Committee is charged with reviewing the work of the Charles River Watershed Association to evaluate the benefit to and impact on the Town of Wrentham of establishing sewer districts in the Wrentham Town Center and in the Wrentham Business and Commercial zones on Route 1/A south of Route 495 and shall study the feasibility, means, methods and cost of constructing and operating district sewers in those areas. The documents that are listed and linked below were prepared by the Association and offered to the Town for our use in determining whether Wrentham may have an interest in using smart sewering to encourage development in these two commercial districts.

The Committe is made up of:

  • One member of the Planning Board
  • One member of the Board of Selectmen
  • One member of the Board of Halth
  • One member of the Conservation Commission
  • One member of the Economic Development Committee
  • One member of the Finance Committee
  • One citizen who lives, operates a business or owns property in the Town Center study area
  • One citizen who lives, operates a business or owns property in the South Street study area
  • One citizen at large
  • Town Planner (ex-officio)
  • Town Administrator (ex-officio)
  • Charles River Watershed Association (ex-officio)