Water Infrastructure Investment Water Infrastructure Investment

Water Systems - Assistance Going Forward

The water systems analyzed according to the Development Capacity Analysis benchmarks serve the largest communities in the two-county region. The users of all systems studied comprise 30% of the population of Washington County and 42% of the population of Aroostook County.

The water systems assessment gives a snapshot of how these water systems are doing according to 2011 data and 2013 follow up with managers.

So what next? How can the analysis and/or some outside assistance help with both water system improvements and preparations for growth?

Technical Assistance to the Water Systems

Water systems throughout the region, whether part of the analysis of the larger systems or not, could benefit from technical assistance in the following ways:

Outreach & Communications with Decision-Makers in & beyond the Water System

Water systems operate in communities and in context. The actions and decisions of Board members, neighbors and other municipal officials affect water systems in many ways. The following measures can help:

Follow up Analysis for Individual Systems 

When systems have unaccounted for water greater than 12%, this may indicate aging pipe that requires a leak detection program.  It may also reflect that the meters should be calibrated.  The latter should be performed prior to any leak detection.

Grades assigned in the matrix of the drinking water systems data for each system follow the benchmark tab; there were no weighting factors in the analysis presented.  However, because certain factors may be considered more important, further analysis could weight the following "Grade Columns" by a factor of 2