Westfield DPW gets state grant (2025)

WESTFIELD — The city’s DPW was one of 67 municipalities across the state that was recently awarded a state grant to fund its sewer asset management project as part of the city’s ongoing effort to maintain its clean and safe drinking water.

“This will help us with compiling all the assets of the sewer department and tracking things like the maintenance of the wastewater department’s equipment,” said DPW Interim Director Francis Cain about the $78,483 state grant.

The city requested 130,805 to fund the entire project from the State’s Revolving Fund, which provided the grant. He said the city will cover the remaining $25,320 with a combination cash or in-kind services.

That tracking, Cain said, involves creating an inventory of every hard asset of the city’s sewer and wastewater divisions.

And that includes everything from manhole covers to computer systems and equipment at the city’s wastewater treatment plant to sewer lines.

Every single piece of the city’s wastewater infrastructure has a maintenance schedule and with tens of thousands of pieces of it, there is simply no way to track it all without having an asset management plan, Cain said.

And that includes the city’s 6.1 million gallon per day wastewater facility, 17 sewage pumping facilities, and the Williams Riding Way Flood Control Pump Station that protects the city’s water quality and prevents pollution by treating the waste of the city’s more than 8,000 wastewater customers that averages 150,000 gallons of sewage each day.

In fact, he said, one of the recommendations included in a recent assessment of DPW operations by an outside consultant was to have the department’s database administrator to be “reclassified to Asset Management Administrator to more accurately reflect the leadership capacity responsibilities and duties related to each division’s operations plans and preventive maintenance activities required for asset management serving the whole department,” according to the report.

The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced the grants earlier this week

“Our administration is committed to delivering support for our communities to make sure Massachusetts continues to have the cleanest drinking water in the country,” said Gov. Maura Healey said. “These funds help cities and towns upgrade wastewater and drinking water infrastructure at an affordable cost, while ensuring residents across the state have access to safe and clean water.”

This year, the Clean Water SRF provides $885.8 million in financing for clean water projects across Massachusetts. Approximately $480 million will finance 26 new construction projects and $377 million will be allocated towards financing 10 previously approved multi-year projects. Additionally, $3 million has been allocated to the emergency set-aside account, $5 million will be directed to the Community Septic Management Program to remediate failed septic systems in participating communities, and $15 million has been set-aside to finance planning and PFAS design projects.