WMAC Meeting Minutes, October 21, 2010

 

Attendees:  David Crosby – Chair, Ann Carney, David Hearne, Paul Lauenstein, Rory McGregor – Secretary, Bob Weeks

 

Guest: Eric Hooper – Superintendent, DPW

 

1.  The minutes from the September 16th WMAC meeting were approved with minor changes.

 

2.  Discussion centered on which capital improvement projects to recommend for inclusion in next year’s budget (July 2011 to June 2012) as well as what a potential 5 year plan might look like.  For the 5-year plan, Eric Hooper recommended the following Rehabilitation Projects:

 

#13 – SCADA Improvements – Chemical Feeds at all wells

#6 – Water mains at Brook Road and Glendale Road

#16 – Install Standby Generator and Auto Transfer Switch at Well #4

#1 – Water Main on Pond Street

#17 – Replace 3 wells at Well #2

 

and the following Growth Projects:

 

#22 – Continuation of the Water Conservation Program

#23 – Purchase Equipment System for Leak Detection

#21 – Stormwater/Wastewater Projects

#26 or 27 – MWRA Emergency Connection via Norwood. 

 

For next year’s plan, we agreed on the Pond Street Project (#1) budgeted at $800K along with the Moose Hill Tank (#12) at $75K  and the Mag Meters (#19) at $24K.  We  recommend  that the Selectmen include these in the operating budget for the Water Department for FY 2012 (July 2011 – June 2012).

 

Paul Lauenstein advocated that well rehabilitation be included in next year’s budget.  He pointed out that we are already behind schedule with well rehabilitation according to the new Master Plan.  He also pointed out that the 2.6 MGD (million gallon per day) maximum capacity of the wells last summer was considerably short of the 3.58 MGD rated capacity and the 3.12 MGD permitted by the Department of Environmental Protection.  The 2.6 MGD maximum capacity of the wells last summer was insufficient to keep up with leakage and demand, resulting in a significant lost revenue opportunity and dissatisfaction among water customers.

 

3.  The Master Plan prepared by Weston & Sampson was accepted by unanimous approval.

 

4.  We agreed that we want the MIS Dept (Management Information Systems) to report revenue by block.  Revenue for the July – September quarter was $700K, of which $96K was base revenue and $604K was usage revenue.  Of this amount, $50K is non-residential revenue.  

 

Unaccounted water was approximately 15%.  There were a number of system leaks, the most significant of which was at the Walpole Street and Rte 1 location.

 

The water ban implemented throughout the summer because of the leaks cost the town $170K in lost revenue, an amount sufficient to justify the immediate purchase of the leak detection system identified in Item #23 above.

 

5.  The NSTAR site Well Pump test took place last month as scheduled.  Data will be available by next meeting.

 

6.  Eric Hooper has prepared a proposed budget of $2.4M for FY 2012.  This includes 13.75 employees and the projects mentioned at the end of paragraph 2 in these minutes.  50% of Eric’s time and 50% of Peter O’Cain’s time is allocated to the Water Department.

 

7.  David Crosby reported that he has installed an evapo-transpiration system in his lawn which automatically determines when the soil requires watering which takes place in the early morning hours when required and when watering restrictions allow it.  One potential advantage is that these systems could be allowed to operate outside the current watering ban provisions, but irrigations would have to be modified.

 

8.  The Water and Energy Fair at the High School in September was a successful event and should be repeated again in the next year or two.

 

9.  Next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 18th , at 7:30pm at the Community Center.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Rory McGregor