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Blackstone posts water monitoring notice, approves $241K change order to finish SCADA upgrades
Summary
The Board of Selectmen approved a $240,959.72 change order to complete SCADA and corrosion-control work for the town water system and agreed to post a customer notice after a missed quarterly PFAS sample at raw well 06G was traced to an early sampling date.
The Town of Blackstone voted unanimously Sept. 24 to approve a $240,959.72 change order that town officials say will complete SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) upgrades and other finishing work for the corrosion-control facility and remote well sites.
The approval follows an earlier notification staff drafted for water customers explaining the system failed to meet a monitoring-and-reporting requirement for PFAS sampling at raw well 06G during the Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2023 monitoring period. Town staff said the miss did not reflect contaminated finished water: the finished-water blend that includes well 06G tested below the maximum contaminant level during the same monitoring period.
Town Public Works Superintendent Jimmy Sullivan told the board the missed sampling resulted from an administrative timing error: he said he took the PFAS sample a week early, in the third-quarter window instead of the fourth. “I took it a week early,” he said, adding that follow-up and prior-quarter samples were within acceptable ranges. Town staff said they will post the required customer notice with an explanatory addendum on the town website.
The change order presented to the board combined several items: transformer containment and bollards, screening for overflow pipes, a reorientation of a finished-water pump, conduit work for communications, a condenser pad adjustment and equipment standardization across multiple wells. The largest single component was the SCADA equipment and standardization budgeted at approximately $190,165.85; smaller change orders brought the total discussed to roughly $214,959.72 and the motion carried with the larger $240,959.72 authorization as recommended by administration.
Town administrators said roughly $450,000 remained in project funds, which can be used to cover the change order and then close out the project. Staff and the superintendent said the work will reduce piecemeal controls across wells and standardize remote monitoring — an outcome they said will reduce maintenance headaches and improve operational reliability.
The board did not identify any detection of elevated PFAS in finished water tied to the missed sample during the meeting. The change order vote was unanimous. Town officials said they will publish the customer notice and supporting explanation on the town website and continue the planned sampling schedule.
