2005 Annual Report

2005 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
TOWN OF EASTON WATER DIVISION

MISSION STATEMENT
The Easton Water Division is dedicated to providing, protecting and preserving today’s water supplies for tomorrow’s consumers. Our commitment is to supply quality water that complies with all State & Federal standards, provide education and excellent customer service, and to be the leaders of our profession.

I respectfully submit the following report and pumping record for the year 2005.

The greatest amount pumped in one day was 4,184,000 gallons on 6/27/2005.

Total 2005 Precipitation was 65.06 inches.

The Water Division responded to 6,778 service and emergency calls:
Connected 75 new services for a total of 7,094 active services
Replaced 4,137 meters
Renewed 8 services
Repaired 5 service leaks
Repaired 16 broken water mains
4 – 6” mains 11 – 8” mains 1 – 12” main

In 2005, new subdivisions and water main improvements added to our system:
60’ of 4” water main
1,680’ of 6" water main
6,060’ of 8” water main
1,000’ of 12” water main
23 new fire hydrants
58 new valves

We now have a total of 159.9 miles of water mains, 1,428 hydrants and 3,076 street valves in our system.

The Water Division read 20,889 meters, prepared and processed the bills for mailing;
1,816 delinquent notices were mailed and 250 final bills were calculated.

This completed the seventeenth year of our Backflow Prevention Program. Since 1989, we have conducted 303 surveys of facilities to ensure appropriate backflow prevention devices. This year 9 commercial buildings were surveyed. We have 267 testable devices in the system, 150 double check valve assemblies, 103 reduced pressure zone backflow preventers and 14 non-required devices. This year 313 backflow prevention device tests were performed.

In order to meet the requirements of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act, we have taken the following samples for analysis:

635 bacteriological
6 nitrate
2 routine chemical
5 nitrite
1 iron
1 manganese
6 arsenic
1 lead
6 secondary contaminants
6 volatile organic compounds (VOC)
1,742 pH
1,732 chlorine residual
16 Trihalomethane
16 Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)
1 Tanic Acid
7 sodium

Our meter modernization program is almost completed with 99 % of the town’s meters now utilizing the newest radio read technology. During the past year, water division personnel have changed 4,137 residential and commercial meters. With the installation of the new meters we are now able to provide quarterly bills for all customers. Frequent billing cycles greatly improve water conservation by allowing consumers to better understand how they use their water and will detect leakage within their home in half the time it previously took.

Construction Of our new well and pumping station #7 was awarded to Dankris Builders Corporation of Plainville, MA. Construction started on March 7, 2005. To date the roadway has been constructed, the new well has been installed and the pump house is almost completed. We anticipate the station to be put online around February 2006.

The contract for the cleaning and painting of the 2,000,000 gallon Washington Street standpipe was awarded to Amstar of Western New York Inc. in the amount of $389,400.00. The storage tank was taken offline on October 3, 2005 to start the project. The tank is expected to be completed well within the 180 day limit and is expected to be put back online during the month of January.

We continue to survey the water system for leaks using conventional and digital correlation technology. We have completed 20 system-wide leak surveys to date. This program enables us to maintain low unaccounted-for water.

This year we performed our 12th consecutive year of system-wide uni-directional flushing program. This program cleans all sediments from the water mains and helps ensure the delivery of safe, clean water to your tap.

The staff continues to educate our peers, students, and the public on water conservation and the operations of the Water Division. We continue to give numerous presentations to Water Works organizations, providing tours and training to Brownie and Girl Scout troops, Children’s Museum Science Camp, as well as holding the Annual Open House.

The meeting room at the Easton Water Division office at 417 Bay Road continues to be in high demand, as one of the only town meeting rooms.

We conducted our Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day on May 14, 2005 with 524 residents participating at a cost of $12,940.47 to the Town. I would like to thank the Easton Lions Club for their continued effort in assisting in this event with the collection of TV’s, computer monitors, and white goods. Our collection day for 2006 has been scheduled for May 13th.

The Water Division hosted its 21st Annual Open House on Saturday, April 30, 2005 with the highlight being the Award Ceremony of our Annual Water Conservation Poster Contest. Hundreds of posters are judged from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. This contest could not be possible without the excellent cooperation of the Easton school system—especially, Dr. William Simmons, School Superintendent, Arnie Casavant, Achim Krasenbrink, Susan Masse, Kathie Hayes, and Betty Minuskin of the Art Department. This contest provides a perfect medium to educate the students to the value of water and the need to protect it.

The Water Division continues to remain leaders in the water works industry. Our employees are dedicated and committed to their jobs. As a manager, it is certainly rewarding to have employees of this caliber and I would like to personally thank all of them for their continued efforts: Shirley Tufts, Janice Jacobson, Karen Gallo, John Fresh, Jr., Raymond Keyes, Richard Mueda, Joshua Ford, Joseph Richard, Christopher Daniels, Michael O’Toole, Jeffery Cloonan, Mark DeCouto and John Siscoe.

“With Water Works Pride”
John J. Marsh
508-230-0850
jmarsh@easton.ma.us

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