Board approves change orders and engineering amendment for lead service line program; EPA to provide technical assistance

The Watapua Water Board approved two change orders to the city's lead service line replacement contract, authorized an amendment for engineering support, and reviewed a multi-year plan to find and replace remaining unknown service lines.

Contract work and change orders: the board voted to approve change orders (numbered in the packet as 5 and 6) for the lead service replacement contract with Biscoe Construction. The transcript records the prior contract price as $5,041,008.25; one change-order increase was recorded in the meeting as $93,004.73. Portions of the transcript containing change-order amounts were not fully legible; the board voted to approve both change orders by voice vote.

Engineering amendment: the board approved Amendment No. 2 for engineering and support services with Woodard & Curran (listed in the packet as Woodward and Curran) in the amount of $47,000. The firm will provide additional inspections, data entry and quality control so the city maintains a complete historical inventory of service material and inspection records.

Identification, ACO timeline, and EPA technical assistance: staff reported roughly 6,000 service connections remain to be inspected to determine service material. Under the current Administrative Consent Order (ACO) with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the department expected to be up to 1,600 inspections by the end of this calendar year. Staff said they have requested a modification to the ACO to prioritize inspection and identification of the roughly 6,000 unknowns in the current calendar year, with planned replacements of an estimated 600 or fewer lead services the following year. The transcript records these as staff estimates and as a requested modification pending DEP action.

As part of the identification effort the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will provide technical assistance teams (described in the transcript as teams of a dozen staff) to work with city crews in April, May and June; those teams will perform door-to-door contact, leave door hangers if no one is home, and assist with inspections. Staff urged homeowners to cooperate with properly identified inspection teams and to call the water department to schedule appointments if they prefer.

Staff also emphasized that the change orders and the engineering amendment were primarily for inspection and documentation work that will help the city produce more accurate bid packages for replacement work and finalize a full inventory of service materials.