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Commission approves wastewater chemical contracts, testing and operational awards; hears demo of 3D asset mapping
Summary
The Fall River City Civil Commission approved a package of wastewater plant contracts on June 3 — including roughly $811,412 in chemical awards and a $18,912 testing contract — and learned how Matterport 3D scans will be linked to Utility Cloud asset records.
The Fall River City Civil Commission on June 3 approved the annual slate of wastewater procurement and several operational contracts and heard a demonstration of a new 3D asset-management integration.
Chemicals and testing: Paul (staff member) read the award list for chemicals the plant relies on and confirmed the commission was approving vendor awards for estimated use in fiscal 2026. The awards announced included sodium hypochlorite (bleach) to Univar for $475,966 and bulk sodium bisulfite to Univar for $155,125; potassium permanganate was listed to Moore Betty Corp. at $81,314.40. Paul summarized the budget context: the department’s FY2026 budgeted chemical use is about $1.3 million, while the awards announced total approximately $811,412; staff said the gap reflects carryover inventory and projection methods used in budgeting.
The commission also approved a toxicity testing contract (PACE Analytical) for $18,912, the lowest quote received this year.
Septic hauling and revenue note: Commissioners approved two haulers (Marshan Environmental Services and Heizer Excavating/related firms) for authorization to discharge septage at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Paul told the commission that septage hauling revenue has grown substantially since 2019 — from roughly $300,000 in prior years to a projected $800,000 to $1 million for the current year — and that operational changes (extended receiving hours and biweekly billing) have helped increase business.
Plant roofing and vehicles: The commission approved $233,200 to proceed with roof replacement work on several wastewater-treatment plant buildings (maintenance garage and pump house areas). Paul and commissioners discussed warranty expectations and that the work will be performed using a glued membrane system; staff said the roof replacement will be paid from operating and capital sources identified in the plant budget. The commission also received a list of recently purchased vehicles (including John Deere Gators for on-site transport) that were bought from the operational budget.
Asset management demonstration: The commission heard a presentation by Peter (Inframark presenter) and others on linking Matterport 3D scans to the Utility Cloud asset-management system. Peter demonstrated a Matterport scan of the PSA building that took about 35–40 minutes to capture and showed how MatterTags link to asset records and work orders in Utility Cloud. Paul said Inframark is incorporating the scanning and asset-linking work into their O&M contract; staff reported about 60,000 utility data points are already in Utility Cloud and that roughly 864 of the roughly 2,000 wastewater and pump-station assets are linked to Matterport scans so far. Peter said staff expect to continue the work and aim to link more assets by the end of summer.
Why it matters: The procurement decisions cover core treatment chemicals and testing needed to operate the plant; the asset-management integration is intended to speed maintenance, provide searchable documentation and reduce response time by linking visual scans to work orders and PMs.
Votes and next steps: Motions to approve the chemical awards, PACE testing contract, septic-hauler approvals and roofing contract were made, seconded and approved by voice votes. Staff will continue to implement Matterport scanning across pump stations and the plant and to post inventory, PMs and O&M documentation into Utility Cloud as part of ongoing O&M improvements.
