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Council endorses wastewater and stormwater asset-management plan to guide capital work
Summary
After a presentation by Department of Public Works staff and a New Hampshire DES engineer, the council voted 6-0 May 21 to support continued implementation of a GIS-based asset-management plan for wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.
The Bedford Town Council on May 21 unanimously endorsed the Department of Public Works' wastewater and stormwater asset-management plan and its continued implementation.
Brandon Bosiver of the Department of Public Works presented the plan, which the town developed with grant support from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. The plan compiles GIS-based inventories of wastewater and stormwater assets, sets level-of-service goals, applies condition and risk scoring, and uses life-cycle costing to help prioritize maintenance and capital projects.
Sarah Ridyard, sustainability engineer with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, attended and described the state grant that funded the work and the program’s goal of helping municipalities make data-driven infrastructure investments.
"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 told the council.
The presentation showed maps color-coded by anticipated replacement year for sewer pipe segments and described near-term work to improve inspections, record-keeping and workflow integration. Staff explained the town is operating at a “core to intermediate” asset-management maturity level and outlined steps to raise that maturity, including centralized coordination, staff training and possible future adoption of dedicated asset-management software.
Council action: Councilor Strand moved that the council support the Department of Public Works and the continued implementation of the wastewater/stormwater asset-management plan; Councilor Kathleen Bemis seconded. The motion carried 6-0.
Why it matters: Councilors and staff said the plan will improve the town’s ability to prioritize repairs, coordinate work with paving and utility projects, justify capital requests, and access outside funding more effectively. The plan is described as a living document that will evolve as the town adds inspections, condition data and work history.
Next steps: Public Works will continue to refine asset inventories, expand inspection tracking, apply the plan to capital-program prioritization, and report progress to the council; staff also requested ongoing council support for training and technology investments needed to implement the plan fully.
