Water & Wastewater Commission

Water/Wastewater Commission Meeting Minutes September 11th, 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 September 11th, 2019 at the J.A. Provencial Building, 1200 Rindge Rd, Fitchburg MA, 01420. The meeting commenced at 5:05 pm Members present: Rick Healey, Chairman Nicolas Bosonetto, Commissioner of Public Works 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 Janet Morrison, Land Conservation Consultant Absentees: None Item #1 Approval of last meetings minutes: Motion to approve minutes from June 12, 2019 meeting was granted by unanimous vote. Item #2 Public Forum: None Item #3 Water Division:  Janet Morrison, Land Consultant spoke to the Commission about a potential sale of Conservation Restriction on the City’s Southern Watershed properties to MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. This CR would open land to non-motorized outdoor recreational activities such as hiking, nature study, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, mountain biking, etc., etc. She also updated the Commission as to the Jewell Hill Conservation Project. We will be applying for two Land protection grants and one Drinking Water Supply protection grant for approx. 318 acres of pristine Land.  Update given on the City-wide Water Meter Replacement. We have installed approx... 240-250 new meters ourselves. We are waiting on the last two gateways (Phillip’s park, Oak Hill) to be up and running. New meters have been installed at Great Wolf. Also installed meters on Rte. 31 up to the Ashby line, and Narrows Rd in Westminster to see if readings would come in and they have.  Falulah transmission main, which is basically the main from this plant down to the storage tanks is a 16” main. We will need to upgrade this main to a 24” pipeline, that way if either plant (Falulah/Regional) goes down we can distribute water to all residents via the other plant.  MA DEP will begin its Sanitary Survey week of September 16th they will only have time for the Regional Plant, and the Falulah plant will be completed at a later date.  Water Division and IT personnel held meeting with Arcadis representatives to review the Basis of Design Report (BODR) for the design of the SCADA system upgrades for the two treatment plants and 13 monitored stations (pump and prv stations). Item #4 Wastewater Division:  Sewer Ordinance, and Sewer Use Rules & Regulations ordinance have finally been approved and signed by the Mayor. Question was raised as to how these new rules and regulations would affect the regular customer/business. Jeff will look into this a bit further with more discussion to follow at next Commission Meeting.  WWMP- We have not heard back from DEP or EPA. We have already sent out the first submission on the WWMP this past May. Weston and Sampson along with Tighe & Bond to develop the best case scenario to put off tertiary treatment. Separating has far more benefits than treatment itself.  East WWTF’s Lab & Control Room upgrade-RFQ has been sent out and Contractor CDM Smith was chosen.  CMH’s Separation Project- Weston and Sampson are moving along with this. We have a scheduled completion date for the end of the calendar year.  SSU Project- the SSU project is 97% to substantial completion, 91% to final completion and 95% of the contract price through the end of August 2019. For work completed over the last month or planned work for the month ahead please see attachment.  Combined Sewer Separation Project-Application has been sent in to DEP for the SRF funding program. Loan authorization will be put forth to the finance committee next week in the amount of 8.2 million. This is the combined area between Water St. and South St. to stay in line with MASS DOT work.  SSES, Phase 4 – Project is moving along very well.   Misc. updates – Rain Barrels Program year 2. Is completed. We distributed 50 barrels, including one donated to the McKay Arts Academy. We also have scheduled a presentation by Mr. David Vallee NOAA/NWS Hydrologist in charge out of the Northeast River Forecast Center on Weather, Climate trends in Mass to the FPS 8th grade students. This is tentatively scheduled for STEM Week 2019 (week of October 21-25, 2019) Item #5 Other Business:  The Water/Wastewater Commission will next meet at 5:00 pm. on October 9, 2019 at the J.A. Provencial Building, 1200 Rindge Rd. Fitchburg MA, 01420. Meeting adjourned at 6:02 P.M.