Portsmouth, RI: Lead Service Line Inventory
October 2023 - October 2024
Portsmouth Water and Fire District leadCAST Dashboard
Community Description
Portsmouth, the most northern city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, has a population of around 17,000. The Portsmouth Water and Fire District provides water and wastewater services to 6,893 connections in Portsmouth.
Project Scope
EPIC provided assistance to the Portsmouth Water and Fire District for developing a lead service line (LSL) inventory to comply with the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR).
Services Provided
The Portsmouth Water and Fire District (PWFD) was well positioned to begin its LSL inventory, having a nearly comprehensive GIS-based asset management database that included both public and private service lines. During a site visit, EPIC staff and utility leadership identified a key challenge: limited technical capacity among staff to adapt and transfer the existing database to meet the Rhode Island Department of Health’s (RIDOH) LSL inventory system requirements. To address this gap, EPIC contracted with Trinnex—a software technology company—through a $30,800 agreement. Trinnex used its leadCAST management platform to support data acquisition and organization. Working closely with the PWFD utility team, Trinnex and EPIC project managers facilitated the import of service record data and the development of a comprehensive LSL dashboard.
EPIC also led community outreach efforts, using a combination of physical mailers and email communications to engage customers whose service line materials were initially unknown. Verification of the remaining data was completed through field inspections and resident self-reporting via the leadCAST portal. To meet the October 2024 initial LSL inventory submission deadline, EPIC generated a detailed report using data from the leadCAST system. This report was finalized and submitted to RIDOH, ensuring the utility’s compliance with regulatory requirements.
Challenges and Opportunities
| Type of Challenge | Project Experience | Outcomes and/or Opportunities |
|---|---|---|
| Labor/Workforce | Staffing was limited with regard to establishing a service line database (information was only minimally present in their existing database). | EPIC provided supplemental project management and contracted labor to support the regulatory compliance activity. |
| Technical | Data transcription/coding and import into the asset database was beyond the current technical capacity of the utility. Lack of data and information from the municipality as well. | The contracted services EPIC offered the utility provided the necessary technical support and software to build the initial LSL inventory database. |
| Governance | Lack of alignment of staffing and funding needs for Lead and Copper Rule revisions, including inventory requirements; lack of clear communication of applicability of those requirements to the Portsmouth system from regulators. | EPIC’s assistance accelerated the contracting and procurement process to acquire the professional services needed to meet the regulatory deadline. |
Project Next Steps
PWFD will continue conducting field inspections to resolve remaining unknown material types on the privately owned portions of the service lines. Although PWFD was referred to EPIC through the EPA WaterTA program, it is not considered a disadvantaged community under state definitions. However, during the site visit, EPIC observed that the utility operated with a lean staffing structure, and the task of compiling the data required for the LCR inventory would have placed a significant burden on a team with limited capacity.
While utility staff were knowledgeable about the materials present in their service lines, they would have benefited from the option to use statistical modeling to reduce the inventory burden—an approach not accepted by the State of Rhode Island. Additionally, after EPIC had procured the Trinnex system to support inventory development, the State determined that data must be submitted in a format consistent with the 120Water platform. This change required additional data management to reformat the inventory for submission to the state’s system.