Water & Wastewater Commission

Water/Wastewater Commission Meeting Minutes June 12th, 2019 J.A. Provencial Building 1200 Rindge Rd, Fitchburg MA 01420 A meeting for the City of Fitchburg Water/Wastewater Commission was held on Wednesday June 12th, 2019 at the J.A. Provencial Building, 1200 Rindge Rd, Fitchburg MA, 01420. The meeting commenced at 4:52 pm Members present: Rick Healey, Chairman George Siener, Commission Member Joshua Bedarian, Commission Member Steven Bodurtha, Commission Member Michael McLaughlin, Commission Member Others present: John M. Deline., Deputy Commissioner of Water Jeff Murawski., Deputy Commissioner of Wastewater Jennifer Lambert, Head Clerk Water Office Absentees: Lenny Laakso, Commissioner DPW Item #1 Approval of last meetings minutes: Motion to approve minutes from May 8, 2019 meeting was granted by unanimous vote. Item #2 Public Forum: None Item #3 Water Division:  John updated the Commission on a meeting that was held by the Board of Health on June 6th regarding Fluoride in the City’s water supply and whether or not we should keep doing it. Half of the State’s water distributions systems fluorinate their water. Fluoride use to benefit many people, however with people drinking mostly bottled water nowadays, it is really needed? More research is needed to determine if it is actually needed, and Steve Curry the BOH’s director is going to reach out to the dental society to see if whether or not they have any definitive studies. We will be meeting again to further discuss, and would also like to have a public meeting to gather their consensus.  Hubbardston Real Estate Taxes-Received letter and property tax bill from town. Bill is the same as last year’s valuation. Letter states town will review at a later date.  City wide water meter replacement is moving along. Four of the nine gateways are installed and will be online next week, electrical portion just needs to be hooked up. The meter room has already installed more than 100 meters through real estate closings or just setting up an appointment to change out meter due to no usage. The installation company, Baystate Supply plans on doing a pilot run of approx. 100 or so meters to start with and see if readings come in without a hitch once all gateways are up and working. We did have a hiccup while trying to install the new meter software, our computers run on windows 7 here at the office and software installation required windows 10.  Small diameter Water Main Replacement- We have finished replacing the 2” water main on Oxford St, with only cleanup work left. The water division employees replaced 450ft of old iron pipe that was causing water quality complaints. We had recently had a break on this street which was repaired but dirty water issues were quick to follow. Residents of this street were extremely happy that we were replacing the main as their water quality improved greatly. Item #4 Wastewater Division:  WWMP- Consent Decree item. First submission has been sent. Preliminary performance of our SSU is indicating that we are getting reduction numbers regarding phosphorous. Proposal is being put forward to EPA & Mass DEP that we want to focus on combination sewer/manhole separation.  Sewer Ordinance, and Sewer Use Rules & Regulations ordinance have finally been approved and signed by the Mayor. City Clerk may still have to upload the new ordinances to the City’s website.  East WWTF’s Lab & Control Room Upgrade Project- Small upgrade to our Lab which is very outdated along with our control room. We put out a request for qualifications and received two submissions back. We had both firms in to do a short presentation with myself, our maintenance engineer and our superintendent of treatment. We have recommended to our Purchasing Department to initiate the process of soliciting a proposal from CDM Smith for this project.  CMH’s Separation Project- A task order was executed to Weston & Sampson for design of a CMH’s Separation Project (separating up to 150 CMHs; fee $61,000; having bidding documents prepared by year-end).   SSU Project- the SSU project is 87% to substantial completion, 82% to final completion and 88% of the contract price through the end of April 2019. For work completed over the last month or planned work for the month ahead please see attachment.  Our next Combined Sewer Separation Project (“CSO 039, 048 and Clarendon Street Project”) is moving along well. We will be pursuing the SRF Program for the Construction Phase, which includes pulling together the submission package that we need to apply to DEP.  SSES, Phase 4 Interceptor Sewer Evaluation – This assesses the condition of the sewers and also where we may be getting excessive infiltration and inflow. We are progressing along very well.  Miscellaneous updates: DPW Day 11 was a success. We featured the debut release of “The Amazing Adventures of CC Sewercam”. There was approx. 300 or more kids who took part in all activities and fun. Rain Barrels Program-Year #2 is underway. Participation from DPW Engineering for storm water and also the Conservation Commission was a plus again this year. We are trying to get the public to have more interest in purchasing rain barrels. Discount incentive not quite as good as last year but still a cost savings. Lastly we are coordinating with Fitchburg Public Schools and F-Con-Comm for a presentation by Mr. David Valle NOAA/NWS Hydrologist in charge out of the Northeast River Forecast Center on Weather, Climate, Climate trends in Massachusetts, and Climate change impacts on river flood behavior. Item #5 Other Business:  The Water/Wastewater Commission will next meet at 5:00 pm. on July 10, 2019 at the J.A. Provencial Building, 1200 Rindge Rd. Fitchburg MA, 01420. Meeting adjourned at 5:20 P.M.