17290_Authority_February_2024

48 The Authority | FEBRUARY 2024 and used its Pipeline Replacement Prioritization Projects Program to further narrow down the project area. Harnessing its GIS mapping tool, SCMA held a workshop to overlay the EJ areas, service line inventory, and Pipeline Replacement Prioritization Projects. [See Figure 1.] SCMA used GIS and a dashboard developed for the workshop to select potential project areas and automatically provide the number of lead service lines to be replaced, an approximation of project cost, and if LSLs were known or assumed lead. [See Figure 2.] Additional considerations during the workshop included a focus on residential services, avoiding projects requiring additional permitting (ex. PennDOT, PA DEP General Permits), avoiding higher restoration cost areas (ex. concrete road base), avoiding recently paved areas, and LSL density. As a result of the workshop, the project was defined and results in replacement of 354 services (all assumed to have public and/or private LSL or GRR), and replacement of 6,600 lineal feet (LF) of 6-inch lead-jointed cast iron mains with new 8-inch ductile iron pipe (DIP). [See Info Graphics 1 and 2.] Obtaining Funding After identifying the project, SCMA turned its focus to preparing a PENNVEST funding application for the February 1, 2023, cutoff date. This also included preparing a project cost estimate. Unlike traditional pipeline replacement projects, lead service line projects include additional project cost considerations. To account for these, SCMA included staff allocations to perform home inspections before construction to confirm private side materials and obtain homeowner agreements; for additional administration of required customer notices, inventory documentation, and post-construction notices; and for coordination. Costs also included additional construction costs for soft digs to confirm materials, road opening fees, and material costs for point-of-use water pitchers and filters after service line replacements. One key difference with the LSL PENNVEST funding versus traditional funding is that PENNVEST’s affordability calculation considers only the revenue generated from customers that are part of the project as opposed to the entire customer base for the system. In other words, if loan funding for a project with 354 LSL replacements resulted in a debt service of $289,000 per year, that equals an additional $816 per customer per year for those 354 customers. Since this is considered above the threshold for affordability, PENNVEST will offer lower interest rates and grant funding (subject to availability) to bring that cost down. When this debt service cost is distributed across all system customers, it results in less eligibility for grants. Because of this, it is critical to balance the project cost and the number of customers impacted to “right-size” the LSL project to maximize the opportunity for grant eligibility. SCMA article continued from page 15. Figure 1: EJ Areas (shaded) and Pipeline Replacement Prioritization Projects (red lines). Figure 2: GIS Dashboard.