Section 42I. Whenever the water commissioners or other officers in charge of the supply and distribution of water in a city, town or district which has accepted sections forty-two G to forty-two I, inclusive, determine to lay water pipes in public and private ways and assessments may be made under said sections for the construction of such improvement, they shall forthwith cause to be recorded in the registry of deeds of the county or district in which such city, town or district is situated a statement of their action, which shall specify the ways in which such water pipes are to be laid and shall describe such land as does not abut upon any such way which is to be assessed for such improvement, and which shall designate as the owner of each parcel upon which a lien is to be imposed by this section the person who was liable to assessment therefor on the preceding January first under the provisions of chapter fifty-nine. All assessments imposed under sections forty-two G and forty-two H upon any land which abuts upon any such ways in which such water pipes are to be laid or is included in such description shall constitute a lien upon such land from the time such statement is recorded. The provisions of chapter eighty relative to the apportionment, division, reassessment, abatement and collection of assessments, and to interest, shall apply to assessments under this chapter. No assessment shall be levied under sections forty-two H to forty-two I, inclusive, in excess of the benefit to the land assessed from the laying of the water pipes for which the assessment is levied, and if any assessment is found to exceed such benefit, it shall be abated. The water commissioners or other officers in charge of the supply and distribution of water as aforesaid shall, if the order for assessment is upon land not built upon, extend the time of payment of the assessment and interest thereon at the rate of four per cent until it is built upon or for a fixed time; and the assessment and interest shall be paid within three months after such land is built upon or at the expiration of such fixed period.