Water & Wastewater Commission

Water/Wastewater Commission Meeting Minutes July 8th, 2020 J.A. Provencial Building 1200 Rindge Rd, Fitchburg MA 01420 A meeting for the City of Fitchburg Water/Wastewater Commission was held on Wednesday July 8th, 2020 via Zoom and FATV. The meeting commenced at 5:12 pm Members present: Rick Healey, Chairman Steven Bodurtha, Commission Member George Seiner, Commission Member Joshua Bedarian, Commission Member Others present: John M. Deline., Deputy Commissioner of Water Jeff Murawski., Deputy Commissioner of Wastewater Jennifer Lambert, Head Clerk Water Division Nathan Glenny, FATV Absentees: Nicolas Bosonetto, Commissioner of Public Works Michael Mclaughlin, Commission Member Item #1 Approval of meeting minutes: Motion to approve minutes from May 13th, 2020 meeting was granted by unanimous vote. Item #2 Public Forum: None Item #3 Water Division:  Meter upgrade Project- The meter project has been put on hold since the pandemic of Covid 19 started. Conference meeting set up with Weston & Sampson along with Baystate Winsupply our  installation contractor this week to discuss when we can resume this project. Because we have changed from Badger meters to Neptune meters, we no longer have software support on the old meters. With our older badger meters dying out, we need to wrap this project up by the end of this calendar year.  Cross Connection Control Program-The testing of backflow devices which is mandated by the state was also put on hold due to the pandemic. We currently have one technician testing devices because our Head Water Service Inspector left in February to take another job. We have had no luck in hiring anyone new, and internal candidates are not qualified. We need someone with expertise in this field and unfortunately there are not a lot of people with qualifications. We may need to sub out to meet state regulations and requirements. The State has said that there is no requirement to test low hazard properties such as residential, but will need to test the high hazard areas such as commercial properties.  Water Rate Revenues- Handout given to Commission Members of our monthly commitments for the past few years. These are the amounts the Water Division “bills out” for water rate revenue each month. We will be working on additional analyses going forward. It will be interesting to see what the impacts of the pandemic will have on our revenues compared to previous years.  Water use Restrictions and Drought- On June 2nd, the Water Division implemented a seasonal restriction on nonessential outdoor water use. This is based upon the flow of the North Nashua River between the periods of May 1, to September 30th as measured at the USGS stream flow gage located near the Fifth Street Bridge here in Fitchburg. The restrictions imposed by this order are related to stream flows that have been determined to protect aquatic habitat. They are not at this time related to Fitchburg’s reservoir levels or the ability to provide water to the City’s Water Division Customers. While we don’t strictly enforce this, we do ask those customers that have sprinkler systems to water before 9am and after 5pm, and not run them when it’s raining. This includes City owned property. Item #4 Wastewater Division:  Status update items- Sewer Ordinance, need the following changes. (1) Amending 147-10.D., to re-incorporate the Sewer Connection Permit Fees back into the Ordinance and (2) Amending 147-18, to incorporate the USEPA approved Local Limits that were approved on January 7, 2020. Motion was made to incorporate both amendments to the Ordinance. Motion was granted by unanimous vote.  SSU Project- This project is winding down. Contractor had to make some repairs to the secondary clarifier tanks while the work was still under warranty. Final completion date will be the end of July.  Next Combined Sewer Separation Project- Our next separation project should be going out to bid sometime this month. Most likely will receive bids this coming August. We are a little behind with this project because of Covid. We should have this project under contract this year if everything goes to plan.  SSES, Phase 4-Interceptor Sewer Evaluation-Report has been submitted to us by Weston & Sampson. We just have to finish up our comments and get the report back to them so they can finish up the Phase 4 report to be submitted to EPA and DEP for review and approval.  Combination Manhole Separation Project-Weston & Sampson is working on a bidding document for this project. The intention of this document will be a phased approach for these types of combination manhole separations, where we can do separate smaller projects.   Siphon Cleaning Design & Bid, and Inspection Services Project-Recent investigative work (by Ted Berry) has identified an urgent structural problem with a 350 foot stretch of critical trunk sewer infrastructure between Hartwell St. & Oliver St. This is a combined sewer (installed in 1885) which is a brick, egg shaped 39” high by 26” upper diameter sewer which transmits 3-MGD in dry weather and 32-MGD in wet weather. Our estimated construction cost to do this repair is $450K (as an “open-cut” repair). We will also be getting estimate cost for trenchless repair costs.  Misc. updates- Our 2020 Rain Barrels Program was a terrific success with 176 rain barrels sold. This is our third year doing this and we surpassed years 1 & 2 combined. The On-Call Construction Contract has been executed (Contractor: Blue Diamond Equipment) and the “River Bank Stabilization Project” will be commencing soon. Also under the “On-Call Construction Contract”, this summer we will be commencing the Highview Street Sewer Replacement Project construction. Item #5 Other Business:  The Water/Wastewater Commission will next meet at 5:00 pm. on September 9, 2020 at the J.A. Provencial Building, 1200 Rindge Rd. Fitchburg MA, 01420. Meeting adjourned at 5:49 pm