Sewer Construction To Start on DeWolfe St.

Sections of DeWolfe Street will be closed this week and intermittently for more than a year because of major sewer construction, project coordinators said yesterday.

Brian C. Culver, Harvard's Sewer Separation Project coordinator, said the University, the state and local authorities have a "committed interest in seeing the project move along as quickly as possible."

For the most part, students said they have not yet noticed any changes. The construction has not disrupted their daily routines.

Students will not be greatly inconvenienced during the entire process, according to Culver.

"All housing in the project area is expected to exist in an uninterrupted fashion," Culver said.

It is possible, Culver added, that students will be disrupted by noise, and some pedestrian paths will have to be rerouted.

Students may notice some brief interruptions of electricity and cable service as well as shut-offs of water during the construction, Culver said. However, all students will be notified in advance of any changes, he said.

The construction is part of a project to make the Cambridge sewer system cleaner and cheaper, Culver said. The project will involve several streets including DeWolfe, Mount Auburn, Holyoke, Bow, Quincy, Broadway, Kirkland and Oxford.

The cost of the project totals $41 million, most of which will be paid for by the state, Culver said.

The need for renovation stems from the existence of combined sewers. This type of system contains sanitary waste from bathrooms and run-off from rain and snow.

The combined sewers greatly increase the cost of waste water treatment, Culver said. By separating waste water from storm water, smaller plants can be built.

"There will be a significant savings in terms of building waste water treatment facilities," he said.

Culver praised the project as "environmentally sound." The excess water flow from the sewer system will be prevented from spilling out and flowing intothe Charles River and other surface waters, Culversaid.

Robert A. Barrows, an engineering consultantwho wrote the preliminary design report for thisproject in 1967, supported the high environmentalgoals of the plan.

"This project is part of the overall program toclean up the Boston Harbor, the Charles River andeverything around it," Barrows said.

This phase of the project is expected to becompleted by November 30, 1994, Culver said

Robert A. Barrows, an engineering consultantwho wrote the preliminary design report for thisproject in 1967, supported the high environmentalgoals of the plan.

"This project is part of the overall program toclean up the Boston Harbor, the Charles River andeverything around it," Barrows said.

This phase of the project is expected to becompleted by November 30, 1994, Culver said