Town Needs $60M to Replace Aging Water System

At its meeting on March 15, the Winthrop Town Council viewed the results of an audit of the town’s water system conducted last year.

The Town Manager’s Office hired a consultant last spring to find out why Winthrop’s water rates were on the high end for the Commonwealth, and to possibly reduce user rates. Environmental Partners sent its report to DPW Director Steven Calla on Dec. 17, 2021.

Ryan Trahan, the Senior Principal at Environmental Partners, presented the 57-page Town of Winthrop Water Audit Report to the Council.

According to the report, it will cost roughly $60M to replace old pipes and upgrade other aspects of the town’s water system. This number is likely to climb with inflation over the several years it would take to complete the upgrades.

A graphic revealed that Winthrop loses an estimated $1.1M annually in non-revenue water. Another image showed Winthrop in the bottom 50 percent of U.S. water systems in general and in the bottom 10 percent in terms of “real losses.” As a result, customers are paying an average of $232 extra per year.

To minimize losses, Environmental Partners recommended that Winthrop expand its pool of leak detection contractors and technologies, and research water main replacement options in coastal areas.

Environmental Partners commented that it could not confirm some basic information about Winthrop’s water system due to lack of records. The auditor could not verify the length of mains, the number of service connections, or the duration of services. The DPW provided the consultants with a system map from 1991, but it was unclear if there had been updates since then.

As a result, Environmental Partners suggested that Winthrop modernize and digitize all of its water system records. This would improve record security, ease of access and sharing, analysis and loss detection, and response times to failures. The town can realize this transition in stages.

Councilors reacted with concerned questions, though they didn’t propose any next steps at the meeting.

In an email, Councilor DeMarco called the audit report “frustrating.”

“I was hoping the audit would find a way to lower water bills for residents,” he said. “People don’t care how much water we are losing. They care about how high their water bill is.”