Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council backs DPW plan to formalize wastewater and stormwater asset management
Summary
The Town Council voted 6–0 to support the Department of Public Works’ new asset management plan for wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, which includes GIS inventories, risk scoring, lifecycle costing and a short-term focus on inspection tracking and staff training.
The Bedford Town Council on May 21 unanimously supported a multiyear asset management program for the town’s wastewater and stormwater systems, endorsing a plan designed to prioritize maintenance, guide capital investments and improve transparency.
Brandon Bosiver of the Department of Public Works and Sarah Ridyard of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services described the program and the state grant that supported plan development. "This plan gives us a way to respond to those pressures with a structured, data driven approach that supports long term planning and decision making," Bosiver said.
The plan centers on five elements: level-of-service goals, a GIS-based inventory, condition and performance metrics, risk and criticality scoring, and life-cycle costing. Bosiver said the town’s GIS inventories are nearly complete, risk scoring is underway, and the department is operating at a "core to intermediate" maturity level in asset-management practices.
"What you are seeing on the screen is a map of Bedford's wastewater collection system color coded by anticipated replacement year," Bosiver told councilors, describing how the tool projects when pipe segments may need replacement to allow better coordination with road work.
The council adopted a motion by Councilor Strand, seconded by Councilor Bemis, stating that it "supports the Department of Public Works and the continued implementation of the wastewater stormwater AMP, recognizing its role in improving operational efficiency, public safety, enhancing infrastructure planning, and enabling data driven decision making for long term system sustainability." The motion passed 6–0.
DPW identified short-term needs including a clear data coordinator role, staff training on inspection and work-order systems, and continued GIS and work-order improvements; long-term options include adopting dedicated asset-management software. Bosiver said the program will improve the town’s ability to justify capital projects and compete for grants.
