August 6, 2010
Friday’s Water News: Sewage Spills Into Whitewater River in Richmond, Indiana
Heavy rains in Richmond, Indiana have led to sewage spills along Whitewater River, contaminating the water. The spill occurred because the rainwater and sewage system became overloaded. Officials have warned residents to avoid contact with the water for 72 hours.
Headlines
80,000 gallons of sewage spills in Blaine, Minnesota. Officials say the old The chlorination system was malfunctioning at the local sewage plant and caused the wastewater to leak.
Residents in Baltimore, Maryland are concerned that sewage leaks are killing local fish at Deep Creek Lake. Approximately 1,000 dead fish have been found floating on the lake and residents are blaming recent wastewater spills.
Stimulus Spotlight
Thanks to the stimulus package, the residents of Crawford, Nebraska are receiving $4 million dollars in stimulus grants to get a new wastewater treatment plant.
The town of Palisade, Colorado is receiving a total of $7.8 million dollars to build a new sewer plant. The funds are being provided in a $4 million dollar low interest loan and a $3.8 million dollar grant, both provided by the stimulus package.
Sewer Rate News
Toro, California
Northport, Alabama
Northridgeville, Ohio
St. Louis, Missouri
July 15, 2010
Thursday’s Water News: Service Finally Restored to Parts of Fairfield County (Conn.)
Water service has been restored for customers in several towns in Fairfield County after a major water main break Monday in Westport. The 2-foot line broke Monday morning, leaving more than 1,000 without water. The situation became so dire, that town officials in Ridgefield declared a water emergency and said residents should use water only to drink or cook with. The 2-foot line broke Monday morning, leaving more than 1,000 without water.
Headlines
A water main break on the West Side of Evansville, Indiana has prompted local officials to issue a precautionary boil advisory for a neighborhood there.
A one-mile stretch of road was closed in Edgefield County, South Carolina after a water main break damaged the road.
New York City has begun to look at the way Philadelphia is addressing its sewer overflow problems in order to get a better handle on its own sewer overflow challenges.
Stimulus Spotlight
The Town of Hotchkiss, Colorado received a $775,000 loan with 100 percent principal forgiveness–thanks to the economic stimulus–to complete a water main project to benefit the local high school.
Sewer Rate News
Honolulu, Hawaii
Marco Island, Florida
Santa Rosa, Florida
June 1, 2010
Tuesday’s Water News: Gary, Indiana Struggle with Sewer Separation Costs
Older cities like Gary, Indiana are struggling with the costs to separate sewers for stormwater runoff and sewage. According to a nationwide survey of wastewater utilities reported by the GAO in 2002, 41 percent of wastewater utilities were not generating enough revenue from user rates and other local sources to cover their full cost of service. The city is working on a long-term control plan, but does not know at this point what it would take to stop the overflows, how much it would cost or what impact that would have on a household sewer bill.
Headlines
City officials in Clinton, Iowa may forward a long-term combined sewer overflow plan to the state Department of Natural Resources that could total almost $235 million. Through recent upgrades Clinton has reduced its sewer overflows from 14 to 8.
In Michigan, the Ottawa County Health Department is testing water from three locations after a sanitary sewer overflow of 90,000 gallons into Lake Macatawa on Monday.
Stimulus Spotlight
Thanks to the economic stimulus the Town of Ophir, Colorado will be able to borrow up to $500,000 at a zero percent rate for improvements to its water system.
The rural community of Cass County, Michigan is receiving a $10.5 federal loan from the economic stimulus for improvements to water service for residents and firefighting.
Sewer Rate News
Attleboro, Massachusetts
Portland, Oregon
Saint Charles, Illinois
Springfield, Massachusetts
May 24, 2010
Monday’s Water News: Water Main Break Forces Cornell University to Close Art Buildings
Cornell University’s Foundry–which house art studios on campus–are closed until further notice after water from a main break eroded the ground around the building. Civil engineers are developing a plan to stabilize the bank so the building may be reopened.
Headlines
Early Sunday morning, an eight-inch water main broke outside a hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado spilling thousands of gallons of water onto a road and into the basement of the hospital. It took crews approximately two hours to shut off the flow of water.
The Associated Press has a story on the problem small Oregon communities are having in addressing repairs to their sewage systems. “Ten or 15 years from now, people will be paying routinely $200, $300 a month bills for sanitary sewer service,” said Hermiston City Manager Ed Brookshier. “And people will realize, Wow, what happened here.”
Stimulus Spotlight
A project in Antioch, California that reuses water for landscaping at parks and green spaces throughout the city is receiving $787,000 in economic stimulus funds from the Bureau of Reclamation. Without the stimulus money, it would take 44 years for the recycled water costs to break even with current water costs.
The city of Virginia, Illinois is receiving a loan from the EPA via the economic stimulus to construct a lime-softening plant, five wells and a 300,000-gallon water tower that should be online by March 2011.
Sewer Rate News
Block Island, Rhode Island
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Lewisboro, New York
Louisville, Kentucky
May 5, 2010
Wednesday’s Water News: Rash of Water Main Breaks Has L.A. Rethinking its Conservation Policy
Officials in Los Angeles have agreed to consider changes in the city’s water conservation program after experts said it was responsible for 101 water main breaks last summer and fall. According to the report, on days when watering was allowed, water pressure in the pipes dropped. On days when watering wasn’t allowed, pressure increased accelerating the deterioration of old pipes.
Headlines
Some of the 200 residents in Waldo, Wisconsin are upset that required changes to the village’s water treatment facility is going to cost $3.2 million and they’re blaming the Village Board.
Puerto Rico’s water utility must upgrade more than 100 drinking water treatment plants, including some that currently discharge untreated sludge into local waterways, according to a settlement reached with EPA. The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority must also pay a $1 million civil penalty under the consent decree.
Stimulus Spotlight
Work on the final phase of the wastewater facility rehabilitation project in Eagle Nest, Colorado is set to begin early May, with completion of the job expected before September. About $666,000 for the project is coming from the economic stimulus; $200,000 of that money is a 20-year loan.
Henderson, Nebraska will use $600,000 in bonding authority it received from the economic stimulus to complete a large sewer project for its industrial park. The cost of the lift station alone prohibited the city from moving forward on the project before the economic stimulus funding was awarded.
Sewer Rate News
Baltimore, Maryland
Coos Bay, Oregon
Orange, Virginia
Viroqua, Wisconsin
May 3, 2010
Monday’s Water News: 2 Million Massachusetts Residents Without Water After Main Rupture
2 million residents of Boston and 29 of its most populous suburbs, whose clean-water supply was cut off by a catastrophic rupture of a water main break on Saturday, remained without clean tap water for a second day yesterday. The break was so bad that Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency.
State officials have urged residents to take seriously an order to boil all water used for drinking and cooking. The leak was reported Saturday morning in the town of Weston, 10 miles west of Boston. At the height of the breach, the pipe was leaking water into the nearby Charles River at a rate of 8 million gallons per hour.
Headlines
A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would remove state volume caps on private activity bonds for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. The Sustainable Water Infrastructure Act (S. 3262) is the companion bill to H.R. 537 which was passed in the House in March as part of the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act (H.R. 4849).
Construction is expected to begin soon on a wastewater treatment plant in Glennwood Springs, Colorado with the completion date expected for the spring of 2012.
Stimulus Spotlight
The city of Ogdensburg, New York has started the $1.17 million overhaul of a wastewater plant that when completed will save 40 percent of annual energy costs. The project is being funded in part by $1 million in economic stimulus money administered through the state’s Green Innovation program.
Thanks to the economic stimulus, construction of the first phase of a Roseau, Minnesota, flood control diversion channel will begin this year after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a contract for the work.
Sewer Rate News
Chesterton, Indiana
Forrest, Illinois
Grand Ledge, Michigan
North Muskegon, Michigan
April 30, 2010
Friday’s Water News: Cedar Falls (Iowa) Needs Sewer System Fix
Cedar Falls, Iowa needs to fix its sewer system or face the possibility of state and federal regulators halting future development in the city. Cedar Falls has a long-standing problem with too much storm water getting into its sewer system, causing overflows of wastewater at a lift station and sometimes overloading the main wastewater treatment plant, leading to dumping raw sewage into the river.
Headlines
120 thousand gallons of waters filled a street in Bonita Springs, Florida after a massive water main break. Collier County Utilities says an aeration valve broke because due to age.
Elevated levels of uranium in domestic wells have forced residents of the Yerington Paiute Tribe Campbell Ranch Reservation in Nevada to drink bottled water since 2004. But the tribe has received a grant from USDA to build a water treatment facility and the extension of water lines on the reservation.
Stimulus Spotlight
Construction has begun to install a sewer system at Hide-A-Way Lake in Picayune, Mississippi. The total project will cost $5.9 million. The Utility Authority will be taking out a loan of about $800, 000 for the SRF and the remaining balance is being funded with economic stimulus funding.
Ophir, Colorado will be able to borrow up to $500,000 at a zero percent interest rate in economic stimulus funding to improve its water system.
Sewer Rate News
Blooming, Grove, New York
Glendale, Arizona
Herkimer, New York
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
April 29, 2010
Thursday’s Water News: SW Virginia Community Plans $95M for Water and Sewer Projects
With close to $95 million of water and sewer projects in the pipeline, Washington County, Virginia is embarking on the biggest capital improvement plan in its history. The work will translate into jobs for contractors and better water and sewer service for residents.
Headlines
In Brooklyn, New York, as part of a $175 million, four-year program to reduce combined sewer overflow discharges into the Gowanus Canal, the flushing tunnel is now receiving its second major overhaul in a little over 10 years.
A major waterline in El Paso, Texas which broke earlier this week will be replaced as early as this fall and will cost $1.2 million. the construction will replace about a mile-long stretch of a 24-inch-diameter water main that was installed in 1966 and has broken 22 times over the years.
Construction of a gas well wastewater treatment plant is coming to Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania to treat wastewater from drilling sites for re-use. The wastewater brought to the facility would consist exclusively of flowback and produced waters from gas wells. It would then be treated to meet industry and environmental standards, after which it would be ready to go back to a drilling site for re-use.
Stimulus Spotlight
Thanks to the economic stimulus, Mesa Verde National Park (Colo.) is receiving $11.5 million of the $14.6 million it needs to replace five miles of deteriorated waterline.
Sewer Rate News
Kings Mountain, North Carolina
Oelwein, Iowa
Rochester, New Hampshire
Scranton, Pennsylvania
April 20, 2010
Tuesday’s Water News: Arkansas Community Seeks $25M Loan for Water Projects
In Jacksonville, Arkansas, the City Council supports a plan by the water department to secure $25 million in loan funds from the state’s National Resources Commission to pay for four major capital improvement projects. The projects will include adding new water lines and replacement of a ground water storage tank.
Headlines
Work has begun on a new wastewater treatment plant for Sweetwater, Tennessee. The city will finance the project with a $6.5 million bond that it will pay back over the next 20 years.
A broken water main break in a Las Cruces, New Mexico caused a gas line to leak this morning.
Minnesota’s Public Facilities Authority will provide $12.3 million in financing to seven cities for drinking water and waste water improvements.
Stimulus Spotlight
In Loveland, Colorado, the Bureau of Reclamation has received $12.2 million from the economic stimulus to recoat the penstocks above the Flatiron Power Plant. The penstocks are large pipes that carry water from a reservoir to a nearby power plant behind a lake which provides water and power in northeastern Colorado.
Despite the inconvenience for some Galion, Ohio residents, construction of two pump stations and a main line to the wastewater treatment plant should be completed in August. Part of the $5.3 million project will be funded via $3.4 million in economic stimulus funds.
Sewer Rate News
Belgrade, Montana
Cadillac, Michigan
Charleston, Illinois
Spring Hill, Tennessee
April 12, 2010
Monday’s Water News: Milwaukee Proposes Over $13M for Sewer Upgrades
Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s deep tunnels would be drained more quickly after a rain storm, providing more wastewater storage space for the next downpour, under a proposed $13.67 million upgrade of three aging pumps.
Headlines
In an opinion piece on the New York Times website yesterday asked several experts how the nation can begin to address the prevalent risks of chemicals in drinking water given the overwhelming financial costs?
Technicians in Englewood, Colorado are testing an ultraviolet light system as part of a pilot program to upgrade and improve the disinfecting process at the its wastewater treatment plant.
Stimulus Spotlight
Fort Smith, Arkansas is receiving $4.38 million in economic stimulus funds to repair its 50 year-old water and sewer systems. Almost no aspect of the systems meets current codes.
Nearly $4.8 million in federal stimulus and state no-interest loan funds for drinking water and wastewater projects has been provided to Meigs County by the Ohio EPA.
Sewer Rate News
Kingston, Massachusetts
Lockport, Illinois
Riverbank, California
Spring Hill, Tennessee
