Water Committee Meeting

March 8^th.
Ian, Jay, Adam, Larry L, Ian 2,

MOTION: to make Larry L  chair. Adam, 2^nd by Jay PASSES

MOTION: to call Larry Sadano made by Adam to have him participate remotely in the meeting 2nd by Jay Buckley; PASSES

Ian asked; how often will he need to be at meetings. Has no problem with week nights.
Ian; why we are doing upgrades, gathering support. Once a month is the plan with a possibility of a higher frequency at the beginning to get up to speed.

Ian said he can report high level Water system planning at the commissioner’s meetings and work and gather the lower level details during committee meetings.

UPPER LAKEVIEW PRV PIT; there is excessive water pressure experienced for homes on Lakeview Drive and some Oak Ridge Road residents down to #42.
A second water main using the same PRV valve experience low water pressure from the PRV and along Upper Lakeview to Visp Road.  Ian stated that there is a chance that replacing the valve may restore pressures to more acceptable levels but that the two mains served by the single PRV should eventually be fixed after prioritizing with other water system needs.

Ian discusses a difference of approximately 120PSI between one house on upper lakeview and lowest house on Oak ridge. Ian mentions that he is not completely sure if the water main actually terminates at Visp Road or serves homes further down the hill.

Ian says that a more accurate map of the districts system would be extremely helpful. Old maps are what Ian uses. Ian was never provided the newer maps created during the Water System Master Planning in 2005. Ian will receive those maps in digital format.

Isolation valve location accuracy not accurate enough to be useful in creating a digital map.

Ian still uses original card stock for locating curb stop valves and some Isolation valves.

Something new has to be done to gather more accurate information on Isolation Valve locations.

Larry Leonard to reach out to Thorne Survey for ideas to get better accuracy.

After much map discussion everyone agrees to move away from old maps, after creating newer accurate maps.
The desire to have updated digital maps  created with all assets connected to that map(s).
Committee agrees that the district needs an easier to find water system assets and valves from digital files and not paper maps or index cards.
ADAM  asks;  What is priority in regards to the Reinach Tank vs Maps? The Reinach tank is the priority.

Find out what way is the right way to do the maps.
Larry Leonard will contact Thorne Survey to gather information.
IAN, curb stop, and isolation valves put on card stock. Information already collected is useful for next phase.

Larry Sadano states; Valve locations should be first and then map physical water lines.

Also need what size pipe is in the ground. Ian states that he does not have the .pdf files showing GPS location and triangulation measurements of home service curb stop valves from Asset Management work done years ago.

MOTION:  Jay asks the committee to allow Ian get the curb stop valve .pdf digital files from office. ADAM 2nds. PASSES.

MUDDY BEACH:

Larry Leonard brings up an idea to BYPASS the tank at Muddy Beach by pumping water directly from the Wells to the booster pumps and directly to Reinach storage tanks. Discussion ensues. Ian mentions that the more storage that you can have built into the system the more benefits you will gain should the system go down.
Cost of eliminating the Muddy Beach tank could be result in having to purchase one or two larger pumps at $10-$12K per pump.
Ian says we should look at the need for redundancy at Muddy Beach. It may not be needed. He points out that there is no redundancy at the DPW well.

Ian talks about the 2nd Muddy beach pump that failed on New Year’s Eve and went dry after 12 hrs of pumping at peak demand. More water storage at Muddy beach would have provided a few more hours of water service.
Ian mentions that a deeper well at Muddy Beach may be able to provide a higher flow rate to Reianch (more water volume).

Ian suggest staying with one well pump at DPW and not to add redundancy there.

This Muddy Beach Tank replacement project is determined not to be a high priority.
Muddy beach is in good shape. Tank is questionable.
ADAM, $8k concrete tank may be best solution vs. changing pumps for a bypass.
Muddy Beach will be discussed further at the next meeting.

ELECTRICAL UPGRADES:
Ian talks about the DPW upgrades to a VFD electrical system, Full three phase power on and hard off currently. Lack of “slow pump start” and globe valving may have caused the DPW pump failure last December and the resulting water outage on New Year’s eve.

Having old pump on hand was helpful on New Years but warranty is expired, and the pumps life expectancy is questionable as the pumps sat somewhere for 10 years which may have allowed for corrosion to set into the electronics.

METERS:
Ian brings the committee up to speed and states that the water Meter at Muddy beach is inoperable.

Ian also states that the Chem Feed meter is also inoperable and that the district has been adding chemicals with other measuring methods which may not be a accurate as with a working meter.
Ian would like an inline PH meter.
Ian says that the DPW electrical project is important and should be one of the higher priorities.
Adam says we need to get at least 2 quotes.

Adam says to take BID Pkg and send out to bid.
Jay to work with Ian on getting Bids on DPW electrical upgrades and meters fixed.

Getting public behind this project is important.
Larry Leonard asks; do all aspects of the approved project need to be done? Adam suggest that we prioritize the project phases and execute only those truly necessary.

Ian wants eye and hand Wash station down by Chem room. Committee agrees this is a safety issue and should be installed in one month because of the sodium hydroxide chemicals that can cause severe burns.

REINACH TANKS:
2-failed tanks for relining. Adam reiterates that the tanks are still usable.
Dent is on welded seam of tank which creates a weak point.
Tanks can be isolated from each other, should one collapse/leak.

The Reinach Tank design was to resolve a low-pressure issue affecting ~30 homes that do not have sufficient water pressure.  Many of these homes rely on home water booster pumps.
Ian discussed the possibility of cross contamination issues with home booster pumps. Who is on booster pumps? Is a question that needs to be answered.
Adam ask for specific homes on booster pumps.
Ian said that booster pumps are not allowed today but that these were installed before regulations were updated.
Question by Adam: do we want to collect which homes?
VDOE to ask Rick Skiranka how many homes affected. Larry Leonard will ask Rick Skirank if the NH DES knows this answer.
Ian states; Home owner would be responsible for fixing or removing their booster pumps. Communication Committee to write context of a letter to go to potential affected homeowners asking if they are in possession of a Booster Tank.

REINACH PROPOSEDTANK SIZE:
90,000 is VDOE average daily usage. Cost of tank size does not go up significantly with more volume.

Ian states that if you can buy more storage then it would be to the districts advantage both now and in the long run.

Adam points out that ~43 homes added in the last 14 years.
The VDOE water system cannot supply 485 homes with water for full time occupied homes. The system would currently fail.
Adam asks; Does a cylindrical tank vs buried rectangular tank make better sense?
May help relieve some of the pressure zone requirements. Ian warns that increasing gravity pressure may impact homes on middle shore  located at the bottom of the pressure zone with too high of a pressure.
Ian states that 8 PRV’s would be full plan for VDOE water system pressure control.
Hale Estaes in North Conway has ~120k strorage that cost far less than what we have been quoted recently for the Reinach Tank.
Ian to call Bruce Lewis about Hale Estates. Should we bring him onto committee?

MOTION: Adam motions to recommend to the commissioners to contact Bruce Lewis to be appointed a non-voting consultant to the VDOE Water Committee. 2^nd by Larry Leonard. PASSES

Ian said we should work to get local bids.
Ian states that possibly 2 Bleeders would be eliminated by pressure zone.

Reinach Tank needs to be discussed at next meeting. Every Member needs to get a digital copy of most current plans for review.
New engineering may be needed for new tank or changes.
Completion of construction of the Reinach Tank Replacement may be done in 2020.

There are 5 segments of Reinach tank plan.
The commissioners to decide if we use Bruce Lewis to review or modify current plans.

Ian: should be looking at overall system build. 15 miles of pipe, valves, zones with problems, etc.
Pipeline replacement discussions and prioritization is needed.

Ian states that the District Loses approximately ~36,000 gallons of water per day through various types of system and household leaks.

Ian: states that there is a need for isolation valving and metering the find leaks faster. Current meters are in the pump houses. Not all pump houses.
PRV pits need meters eventually.
Ian says we need 6-8 meters.
Add meters to dead end zones.
Home Meters will cost approximately ~$500 per house for complete purchase and installation.
2-day process to read meters in the district is predicted. A volunteer or DPW worker could do the manual reading . Not nearly as expensive as previously predicted.
Adam asks; What are benefits from metering? Accurate water usage from homes. Shows how much water is making it to homes vs. water going in to the ground.

Communications Committee will be asked to create a letter to ask for volunteers of all types.
This will help in determining how much work will have to be paid for in regard to reading meters.

IAN states: we need an “Water System Operations Manual” For each pump house to inspect and check  as well as for overall system inspection and operation.

EMERGENCY PLAN: Ian states this needs to be updated.

Ian state that the recent Burgdorf Drive water line extension, has no documentation. The commissioners or Asset Management Committer did not require any. The Old paper maps were used which were not the same as the current 2005 maps and were not accurate.

MOTION, Larry Leonard makes recommendation to reinstate the work order system, 2^nd by Ian. Motion PASSES.
Larry Leonard, discusses the water system Ops Manual and asks for permission to speak with Ian when needed. Ian says that discussion time is part of his monthly service.

MOTION: Adam, recommends asking commissioners to talk to Ian Hayes as need be to complete projects. 2^nd by Larry Leonard. PASSES.
5 hrs per month for Ian to communicate with committee as part of monthly service.

Ian wants to review how emergencies are handled. With commissioners soon.

MOTION: Larry Leonard adjourn meeting, 2^nd Adam. PASSES.

Respectfully; Jay Buckley