Quabbin & MWRA Water & Sewer

RandomWalk said:
I think that’s part of the WASM rehabilitation they’re doing during the next few winters.
Click to expand...
You nailed it. Had to Google the acronym, and found this Weston Aquaduct Supply Main rehab project in Arlington Somerville Medford.

this work is “Where green meets purple” center-right in the map below (just east of Boston Ave)

figure2.jpg


Weston Aqueduct Supply Main Rehabilitation - Medford, Somerville, Arlington (Contract 6544)
 
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The diagram above inspires the question: in a networked web of mains, how do they "meter at the City Gate?"
Background: MWRA presents a water bill to each municipality, say, Medford. Medford pays "one big bill" for all the water that is delivered "to the city gate", including:
  • Metered at residential consumption
  • Metered delivery to other private buildings
  • Unmetered losses (leaks) under the streets
  • Unmetered use in parks, medians, and public buildings
(Medford then bills local residents for water use that contains a little bit of socialism...each metered bill has to charge a slightly higher per-gallon rate in order to cover the city's citywide bill, including municipal uses and municipal leakage)

Does this mean that there is a "Municipal Meter" at each point at which the city draws water out of the Supply Mains and into the "local" pipes?
 
Why on earth do you think water use in public buildings and parks is unmetered? Even a single water spigot in a median has one of those little remote meter reading things attached to it.
 
I would tend to assume that municipal buildings and the like are individually metered, with a bit of "pocket A to pocket B" going on where the individual water/sewer assessments is paid out of the individual operating budgets of each department. There probably is some accounting for leakages, meter malfunctions and water theft though.
 
ceo said:
Why on earth do you think water use in public buildings and parks is unmetered? Even a single water spigot in a median has one of those little remote meter reading things attached to it.
Click to expand...
Could, sure, but do they? Do cities know that all unmetered usage is pure pipe leak?
My understanding is that old “sprinkler park” and fountains were unmetered
 
Per the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, the City of Boston purchases the water in its network from the MWRA wholesale water network via 29 metered connections to the five Boston distribution networks. So yes, MWRA water is metered (and billed for) at the city network entry points.
 
Watch your mail: the MWRA has sent out its annual water report(s). If you're in a town served by the MWRA, they send out a general brochure report with a "your town" insert data.
They report on systemwide infrastructure, and then the test results for your town (things like lead, coliform, particulates, etc. as tested at taps in your town)

PDF online: https://www.mwra.com/water/html/awqr.htm

Then the town-by-town test results It is also on their website:

Testing Labs | MWRA

www.mwra.com www.mwra.com
 
The City of Waltham got notified recently that the MWRA will be installing 9,000 Feet of 36" pipe down Lexington Street from the Lexington Line (Old Friendly's) to Totten Pond Road. Work is expected to be done in 2 phases under 2 separate construction contracts. This first contract is expected to start construction in the Spring of 2022 This new connection will be critical to supplying water to the city when the WASM 3 line is shutdown for rehabilitation starting in 2025.
 
Is there anywhere to see a regional map of ongoing sewer separation projects? I was curious after the recent releases from storms. This information in general seems extremely scattered and even just the Boston map of projects (the only current-ish one i could find) seems outdated.
 
So, I've been loving the COVID tracking that the MWRA has been publishing based on RNA fragments per mL of wastewater going to Deer Island from the Northside and Southside of Boston

Wastewater Covid-19 Tracking | MWRA

www.mwra.com www.mwra.com

The CDC now as a parallel national tracker system

COVID Data Tracker

CDC’s home for COVID-19 data. Visualizations, graphs, and data in one easy-to-use website.
covid.cdc.gov

Why doesn't the CDC tracker include Boston North and Boston South?
 
Very long profile. of Biobot's [Cambridge MA] analyses of sewage.

www.bostonglobe.com

Biobot Analytics knows how to find Covid-19 in wastewater as an early warning - The Boston Globe

The Cambridge analytics company has provided data to more than 700 cities, towns, and institutions. Can it figure out how to track cancer, diabetes, and even new contagious diseases next?
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

It's all the rage.

www.nytimes.com

In Sewage, Clues to Omicron’s Surge (Published 2022)

Tracking the virus in wastewater is helping some cities and hospitals respond to the most recent wave of the coronavirus, but a more coordinated national effort is needed, experts say.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com


As to why CDC hasn't yet incorporated Deer Island, I think its possibly due to CDC starting first with those facilities where Federal monies for the collection and analysis may be involved, and then expanding the number of locations as the surveillance system becomes more robust.
 
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