07.08.09
Wednesday’s Water News: Rainfall Causes Record Beach Closures in Massachusetts
The state of Massachusetts has had a record number of beach closures so far this season, mainly due to high bacteria levels caused by heavy rainfall. According to the state’s Department of Public Health there have been 188 closures of the state’s roughly 1,100 bathing beaches.
Headlines
Whitestown, New York contractor crews will be testing sewer lines this week for the engineering study for the Oneida County Sewer District’s overflow abatement project. The test locates leaks, faulty connections and broken pipelines in the system which will prevent overflows.
Some good news out of Orange County, California that for the sixth year in a row sewage spills have dropped. This is part of a continuing trend toward cleaner beaches the sewage spill rate has been at its lowest since 2000.
Stimulus Spotlight
The Texas Water Development Board has been awarded $160 million worth of stimulus funds to help finance the cost of replacing water infrastructures in the state. EPA officials say the funds will go to invest in several overdue water projects that are essential to protecting public heath and the environment.
Two Utah Indian tribes are getting pieces of the $90 million in stimulus money targeted at helping to upgrade water quality and create jobs for tribal communities nationwide.
Sewer Rate News
Hamilton, Iowa
Herber Springs, Arkansas
Kansas City, Missouri
New Albany, Indiana
06.22.09
Monday’s Water News: Oversight Board Proposed for Jefferson County (Ala.) Sewer System
In Alabama, Jefferson County officials have proposed an oversight board for the sewer system in an effort to get support from state lawmakers and creditors to solve its lingering sewer debt crisis. The county said the proposal is likely the last hope of reaching a solution that involves concessions to creditors.
Headlines
Amtrak halted all train service between Baltimore and Washington on Saturday because of a major water main break north of BWI that covered the tracks with mud.
City officials in Wichita, Kansas took bottled water to residents and businesses in a neighborhood that was without water after a ruptured water main.
The Muncie (Ind.) Sanitary District plans to borrow $9 million to clean up sewage overflow in northwest Jakes Creek and along the White River.
Stimulus Spotlight
The construction of a new wastewater treatment plant in the city of Prairie Grove is one of seven Arkansas clean water projects on a short list to get federal stimulus funding.
Sewer Rate News
Mesquite, Nevada
Milton-Freewater, Washington
04.08.09
Wednesday Headlines: San Francisco Increasing Rates for Water, Sewer
San Francisco water and sewer rates are set to increase substantially in July unless a majority of property owners object to rate increases currently being proposed by the city’s Public Utilities Commission. The proposed rate increase would fund a $4.4 million improvement plan.
Headlines
The city of Newton, North Carolina is moving ahead with plans for $2 million in improvements to its water and sewer system despite uncertainty about how it will pay for the work.
Smyrna, Delaware is considering borrowing $10 million for as many as 11 projects through the state’s Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund and the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service water and environmental programs.
City directors in Fort Smith, Arkansas have set a June 9 special election asking voters to approve up to $30 million in revenue bonds and to extend two half-percent sales taxes for another 18 to continue rehabilitation of the city’s aging sewer system.
In the ongoing saga regarding Jefferson County, Alabama’s sewer debt, a federal judge has called for both sides to submit briefs in the county’s bid to block insurers from having a receiver appointed over its sewer operations.
Sewer Rate News
Catlin, Illinois
Cave Creek, Arizona
Oroville, California
Shelbyville, Indiana
03.30.09
Monday Headlines: Two More Sewer Overflows in Columbus, Georgia
The weekend’s heavy rains caused two large sewage spills in Columbus, Georgia. More than five inches of rain overwhelmed the storm sewer system leading to almost 140,000 gallons of untreated wastewater to enter the Chattahoochee River.
Headlines
The New York City Comptroller has proposed using federal stimulus money and other solutions to spare city water ratepayers from another rate hike.
Cheansing, Michigan is struggling to separate its storm sewer from the sanitary sewer by the end of 2010. The deadline was set in 2000 by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality as part of an ongoing project that would greatly reduce the potential for sewer overflows.
The state of Virginia has released $1.5 million to the city of Lynchburg for use in the combined sewer overflow program. Over the past decade the state has given over $20 million to fund a replacement of city’s largest sewer line.
Sewer Rate News
Benton, Arkansas
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
St. Lucie County, Florida
03.19.09
Thursday Headlines: Fines Likely for Georgia Community After Overflow
Water officials in Columbus, Georgia could face stiff fines after more than five inches rain overwhelmed the system causing 1.5 million gallons of sewage to spill into the Chattahoochee River over the weekend.
Headlines
In California, a five-year plan of over $22 million in upgrades is planned for the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District’s sewer system and water treatment facilities, prompting officials to propose annual rate hikes to pay for the improvements.
A sewer line failure resulted in the discharge of untreated sewage in Graniteville, South Carolina today. The public has been advised to avoid contact with waters around and downstream of the overflow.
The state of Texas will receive nearly $342 million from the economic stimulus for improvements and protection of public water supplies.
Iowa Governor Chet Culver has announced that the city of Centerville will receive a federal award of $600,000 to replace its aging and damaged storm sewer system.
Sewer Rate News
Albemarle County, Virginia
Ashland, Oregon
El Dorado, Arkansas
Vernon, Michigan
03.18.09
Wednesday Headlines: West Virginia City Receives Grant to Correct Overflows
Shinnston, West Virginia has received a $866,000 federal grant to help finance upgrades that should prevent sewage overflows into the West Fork River. The town plans to spend $4.5 million to upgrade its collection and treatment system.
Headlines
The state of California’s Central Valley Water Board has issued more than $225,000 worth of fines to local districts for violations at their wastewater treatment plants.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has extended its deadline for pre-applications for municipalities that wish to get onto the fund’s project priority list as part of the federal stimulus package. To be eligible for this funding, applications must be received by March 25.
City commissioners in Enid, Oklahoma were presented options for borrowing money through the Oklahoma Water Resources Board for a new wastewater treatment plant, installation of a new automated water reading system and construction of two water towers.
Sewer Rate News
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Huntington, West Virginia
Mission Springs, California
02.03.09
Tuesday Headlines: Senate Rejects Amedment on Water Infrastructure
Today, the Senate failed to pass the Murray/Feinstein Amendment which would have added $25 billion in infrastructure invesment, including $7 billion for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs. The amendment received 58 votes, two shy of the 60 needed under Senate rules.
Headlines
Kansas City, Missouri water department officials have submitted to the state and federal governments a long-awaited $2.4 billion plan to fix their sewer and stormwater system. The city is asking for 25 years to complete the project, which would be the greatest amount of time any city has been given to comply with state and federal mandates.
The City Council of Charleston, Illinois will consider efforts to seek state funding to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant and replace a key water main. Cost estimates for the treatment plant and water main are $7.06 million and $785,000 respectively.
In compliance with the Federal Government’s mandate, the City of Huntington, West Virginia will begin separating its storm sewer and sanitary sewer in mid-February – a process that involves ripping up over a dozen streets downtown.
The city of Joliet, Illinois has developed a $445 million list of projects for the pending federal stimulus package, including over $100 million for water and sewer projects.
Sewer Rate News
Benton, Arkansas
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Newton, Iowa
South Beloit, Illinois
01.21.09
Wednesday Headlines: Water Main Break Floods Shopping Mall
A broken water main is to blame for flooding the Norwichtown Mall in Norwich, Connecticut on Monday. The entire mall was filled with about six to eight inches of water before the utility company finally turned the water off. The mall remains temporarily closed.
Headlines
Officials in Alexandria, Indiana are considering two options for controlling its combined sewer overflow. Both options would cost approximately $11 million to execute, all Indiana communities are required to develop long-term control plans to limit the amount of overflow into the water by 2015.
Failing pumps at the Airport Wastewater Treatment Plant in Galveston, Texas caused sewage to overflow into ditches near Lake Madeline last week. Although crews were able to contain 300,000 gallons of the 800,000 gallon spill, most of the sewage ended up in the lake.
The city of Cape Coral, Florida wants $1.1 million to repair a major pipe to make sure a large sewer overflow event does not happen. City officials have seen evidence of corrosion on the 42-inch wide, 4,500-foot-long pipe leading into the sewage treatment plant, and if the pipe were to break, the city would have to shut off sewage service to thousands of customers until it was fixed.
A law office in Lansing, Michigan is drying out after a water main break Monday night left the lower level of the office flooded with two feet of water that soaked up offices and paperwork. Employees will be out of the building for about a week.
Sewer Rate News
Chapel Hill, Tennessee
El Dorado, Arkansas
Folkston, Georgia
Redlands, California
11.21.08
Friday Headlines: Town in Maine Looks to Repair Water Main Under I-95
Looking to repair a water main break under Interstate 95, the Board of Selectmen in Seabrook, Maine are considering replacing the main using directional drilling technology to pull a new pipe through a bore hole. The 12-inch, 350-foot water main remains shut off after it broke in two places in November 2007 and the cost of repair is estimated at $235,700.
Headlines
Town officials in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania are busily trying to figure out how to pay for $1.4 million in state mandated sewer work. The sewer work includes dredging sludge out of lagoons at the treatment plant, correcting combined sewer overflow problems and installing flow meters.
Customers of the Grand Rapids, Michigan water and sewer systems will face big rate increases next year, thanks to expansive upgrades and the defection of five suburbs from its sewer system. The average city resident will get a quarterly water and sewer bill of $168.10, an 8.2 percent jump over this year.
A broken water main in Chester, Vermont left some residents without water last night and forced the closure of a local high school for today.
For more than a week, the left lane of a key San Francisco artery has been closed by orange cones and sawhorses. The sinkhole, formed because of a broken sewer main, needs major repair. and patching the hole is in advisable because the hole might return and cause serious damage to a vehicle.
Sewer Rate News
Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Coldwater, Michigan
El Dorado, Arkansas
Sayre Borough, Pennsylvania
11.05.08
Wednesday Headlines: Ballot Initiatives for Water Infrastructure Pass in 3 States
Measures were on the ballot in three states yesterday to increase investments in water and wastewater infrastructure.
In the Keystone state, Pennsylvanians voted overwhelmingly to adopt the only statewide measure on the ballot yesterday, allowing state leaders to borrow $400 million for water and sewer improvements. An estimated 2,200 drinking water systems and 1,060 wastewater systems in the state must spend an estimated $20 billion to meet federal and state clean water standards.
In the third referendum question on Maine’s ballot Tuesday, voters authorized a $3.4 million bond issue for drinking water programs and construction of wastewater treatment facilities.
And in Arkansas, voters approved a measure that will allow up to $300 million in bonds to be issued for water projects around the state.
