Underwood Engineers presents water asset-management plan funded by ARPA/DES
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Summary
Underwood Engineers presented an ARPA- and DES-funded water asset management program for Plaistow on Dec. 16, outlining an inventory, condition assessment and prioritization of the town27s water assets and noting the system is largely new with no lead service lines identified.
Underwood Engineers presented the draft water asset management program they completed for the town of Plaistow, saying the project was paid for by a $100,000 ARPA/DES grant. The firm27s Margaret Blank told the Board the AMP includes an inventory and condition assessment of horizontal and vertical assets, a criticality matrix that ranks assets by probability and impact of failure, and financial-planning tools to estimate replacement costs.
The presentation described the system as largely new: 13.6 miles of water main, roughly 147 service connections, about 129 hydrants and 130 gate valves. The East Road booster pump station (constructed 2022) and the 400,000-gallon concrete storage tank and valve building (completed 2021) were cited as the primary vertical assets. Blank said a separate state-funded lead service line inventory showed Plaistow has no lead service lines.
Blank summarized AMP goals as documenting condition, correcting identified deficiencies, anticipating future needs and providing a basis for funding and implementation. She described a 1-to-5 scoring system for probability and impact of failure that produces a risk score used to prioritize work and noted only a few older assets (four hydrants dating to the 1970s) appear to approach end of life.
Deliverables listed by Underwood include transferable inventory files (intended for ArcGIS Online), a story map that will provide interactive public views of assets, an Excel level-of-service matrix, and Python tools to generate financial-planning spreadsheets from the inventory. Blank said a training session is scheduled for Dec. 30 and that the draft AMP report and related appendices would be completed in time to support the town27s final disbursement request to DES (the final disbursement paperwork is due Dec. 31; DES indicated a brief extension would be acceptable if needed).
Blank said, "This is something you'll build on forever and ever," and noted the AMP is meant to be updated and iterated as the town27s inventory and priorities change. The board did not take formal action on the AMP at the meeting; staff indicated the draft report will be circulated for review and the board will schedule more detailed follow-up once the report is received.
Next steps: staff will circulate Underwood's draft AMP, the town will host the Dec. 30 training, and the final disbursement paperwork will be completed with DES.
