Baxter & Woodman Solutions

Water Service Line Material Inventory

Your water service line material inventory provides critical information needed for identifying and prioritizing lead service line replacement efforts. Developing and maintaining a detailed Inventory assists with ensuring public safety and establishing effective plans for maintaining and upgrading your infrastructure.

Challenges

Communities are frequently faced with limited historical records, incomplete or inaccurate data, and the possible need for on-site inspections on private property when developing their detailed material inventory. Sometimes, it is just difficult to even know where to start or how to allocate time for your staff to work on your Inventory.

B&W Solutions

Using a multi-phased approach with ArcGIS tools (for communities with or without GIS!), Baxter & Woodman assists communities with strategically identifying each water service line’s material and limiting the number of unknowns.

• Phase 1: Eliminate Services with Known Materials by Evaluating Existing Available Information
• Phase 2: Reduce Services with Unknown Materials with educational Resident & Contractor Information Surveys
• Phase 3: Minimize services with Outstanding Unknown Materials with targeted property inspections

Lead Service Line Replacement Plan

Your Lead Service Line Replacement Plan provides the framework for prioritizing lead service line replacement efforts, establishing clear timelines and budgets, and ensuring that the replacement process is carried out in a coordinated and effective manner. Your Replacement Plan should act as your operational playbook, providing your community with each step to execute replacements in the coming years.

All Community Water Systems (CWS) that have lead, galvanized requiring replacement or lead status unknown service lines must develop a Replacement Plan.

Challenges

When developing a Replacement Plan, communities frequently are faced with navigating limited or no available funding for replacements, needing to coordinate with property owners and other stakeholders, identifying high-risk areas, ensuring adequate staffing and resources and needing to balancing their replacement schedule with other infrastructure projects.

B&W Solutions

Working closely with key staff, such as the Director of Public Works, Communications Director, Finance Director, and Operations staff, Baxter & Woodman is assisting communities in navigating the difficult discussions and decisions needed to address all the components of a Lead Service Line Replacement Plan. Using our experience in capital improvement planning, strategizing funding options, and our design and construction expertise, we will take into consideration the following with your team:

• Replacement Prioritization Criteria (Schools, Child-care facilities, healthcare facilities, etc.)
• Future Infrastructure and Roadway Needs
• Available Funding and Resources (State/Federal and Local)
• Full lead service line replacement and flushing procedures

Education & Notification

Under the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, communities must engage more extensively with residents. Educational materials must raise awareness about the risks associated with lead exposure, provides guidance on how to reduce exposure and protect public health, and informs residents about the efforts you are taking to identify and replace lead service lines.

Challenges

When developing effective educational and notification content, it may be difficult to develop clear and concise language that conveys complex technical information to a non-expert audience, as well as reaching all affected residents, including those with language barriers or limited access to technology. Communities are also faced with the need to address concerns and questions from residents in a timely and accurate manner.

B&W Solutions

Working closely with key staff,, Baxter & Woodman is assisting communities in creating a uniform message that meets the various State and Federal requirements as well as engages the community. Finding the right media platforms and content to engage your community is important! We are thinking outside the box to build trust and transparency between water systems and their community members. Educational & notification content can (and should) look different for different people:

• Newsletters/Letters
• Brochures/Pamphlets
• Social Media/Website Posts
• Education Information Graphics
• Educational Videos
• Townhall/Public Engagement and Education Events

Lead Service Line Replacement Design & Construction Oversight

Removing lead water service lines help ensure the safety and quality of drinking water for communities, ultimately reducing the risk of lead exposure. A full replacement of a lead water service line includes replacing the lead pipe from the water main to the first internal shut-off valve or 18-inches inside the building, whichever is shorter.

Challenges

When executing lead service line replacements, communities are frequently faced with limited financial resources, the need for extensive planning and coordination, difficulties in identifying and mapping the location of lead pipes, and potential disruptions to water service and traffic during excavation and replacement. Additionally, replacements often require coordination with multiple stakeholders and agencies, including the water utility, a licensed plumber, state primacy agency, and private property owners.

B&W Solutions

Baxter & Woodman’s design team works closely with Communities to find funding, prioritize replacements, notify property owners, design and bid LSLR projects, and ultimately execute LSL replacements while maintaining compliance with state and federal regulations. Using detailed GIS exhibits, performance-based specifications and early planning with all stake-holders, we are finding ways to help reduce the unknowns of performing work on private property and streamlining replacement efforts. Our construction staff are working closely with area contractors and plumbers, finding ways to streamline the replacement process.

Lead Service Line Data Management

Data management is crucial for the effective identification and replacement of lead water service lines. It enables the creation of a comprehensive inventory, efficient deployment of resident notifications, tracking of replacement progress and completion, and monitoring of post-replacement water quality. Using the spatial, tabular, and data visualization advantages of a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based data management solution, communities can develop and manage an accurate inventory of service line materials, identifying lead service lines, and managing their lifecycle through data-driven decision-making.  Throughout your LSL Replacement Program lifecycle, GIS for data management plays a vital role in securing clean and safe water for all.

Challenges

When managing the status of each water service line, communities are often faced with incomplete or inaccurate data, limited historical records and resources, and can feel underequipped or overwhelmed with available technology. Oftentimes, communities view data management as over complicated, time-consuming and expensive.

B&W Solutions

No two communities are alike and Baxter & Woodman’s Spatial Technology team understands that data management is not a one-size fits all process. Whether a community is equipped with a GIS or not, our team uses the power of Esri ArcGIS Tools to manage a variety of information for each water service line, streamlining each key step in your Lead Service Line Replacement Program:

• Water Service Line Material Inventory
• Public Water Service Material Web-Map
• Lead Service Line Replacement Plans (mapping requirements)
• Internal Tracking Dashboards and Editing Apps
• Lead Service Line Replacements & Required Construction Documentation

For communities that are not equipped with GIS, we will always make sure that we format your data in a way that is most suitable for you and your staff to use.