07.10.09
Friday’s Water News: Details Revealed on Massive Hampton Roads Water Main Break
Last Thursday, approximately 2 million gallons of water gushed from a pipe in the Hampton’s Road Bridge Tunnel’s fire hydrant supply system, filled underground ducts and eventually caused the complete closure of the westbound tunnel as water pooled in the travel lanes. Today it was revealed water flowed for more than eight hours before the break was identified and traffic was diverted.
Headlines
Officials in Powdersville, South Carolina have broken ground on a new one-million gallon water storage tank in anticipation of future growth. State lawmakers see the project as a tool for economic development in the area.
Residents of a southwest Philadelphia neighborhood woke up at 4:30 a.m. to find water gushing into their homes due to a water main break.
Stimulus Spotlight
The state of Florida will use $11.2 million provided by the EPA from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to repair underground petroleum tanks currently contaminating ground water.
Lansing, Michigan has received $10.5 billion from the economic stimulus to help with the city’s sewer modernization project, but it still needs to spend spend $25 million next year and $283 million over the next 11 as part of the project.
Sewer Rate News
Galion, Ohio
Sussex County, Deleware
Fort Wayne, Indiana
07.09.09
Thursday’s Water News: Seattle Main Break Releases 860,000 Gallons of Water
A water-pipe break on Harbor Island in Seattle Wednesday evening released 860,000 gallons of water, flooding railroad tracks and a freight-storage building.
Headlines
A $4 million sewer line project proposed for the Rattlesnake area of Missoula, Montana will go to the Missoula City Council next week. The sewer line would convert more than 300 residential properties from septic to a sewer main.
About 11,000 residents in Fredonia, New York are being advised to boil their water today because of a water main break there Wednesday night.
Stimulus Spotlight
Officials in Smyrna, Delaware have approved contracts funded by $3.7 million in federal stimulus dollars to upgrade the town’s drinking water system. In the first phase, George and Lynch Inc. will replace six valves in a 10-inch water main from a water tower. Then Sprig Construction will replace a two-inch water main in the town.
The city of Fort Wayne, Indiana has received a $1.5 million stimulus grant and a $3.5 million low-interest loan, which will be used to finance three sewer separation projects.
Sewer Rate News
Bethlehem, West Virginia
Corsicana, Texas
Des Plaines, Illinois
07.07.09
Tuesday’s Water News: Main Break Stops Essential Water Use in South Austin (Tx.)
Residents of Austin, Texas were told to stop all essential water use, including outdoor watering, this morning as crews began repairing a 54-inch water main. The water line provides the city with 60% of the drinking water for residents and businesses south of the river and is one of the city’s main water arteries.
Headlines
A pipe burst in a building near Shepard Park Beach in New York caused 10,000 gallons of raw sewage to dump into the Adirondack Lake over the holiday weekend. The Lake George beach was forced to close on one of the busiest weekends for the area. Clean up of the beach is scheduled to begin Tuesday and the beach will be reopened as soon as possible.
The New Jersey Local Finance Board is considering a borough of Buena’s Municipal Utilities Authority project which is a federally financed project that will take 12-15 months to complete. The project has two impacts on the MUA. First, the new system will send treated wastewater into lagoons, where it will percolate into the ground. Wastewater presently is sent into a stream. Second, the authority’s capacity to treat wastewater will increase from 400,000 gallons to 600,000 gallons, enabling more service for residential and commercial uses. That also benefits neighboring Buena Vista Township, which has the right to use one-third of the increase in treatment capacity.
Stimulus Spotlight
Delaware state lawmakers and public officials accepted $19.2 million in federal money to clean up water. Governor Jack Markell said the money will allow the state to employ citizens in “green jobs.”
Sewer Rate News
Laramie, Wyoming
Mount Airy, North Carolina
Middlesex, Massachusetts
06.09.09
Tuesday’s Water News: Columbus, Ohio to Receive Stimulus Money for Sewers
Columbus, Ohio may receive up to $5 million in federal stimulus funds — money that local officials didn’t expect — to help clean up sewer problems. The money will help extend a sewer line along the city’s South Side and fix two sewer lines Downtown.
The city is working under a court-ordered settlement with the Ohio EPA to end such overflows. The estimated $2.5 billion cost to complete the work could triple homeowners’ water bills over the next 40 years.
Headlines
On July 6, crews will begin testing equipment at a $14.2 million Combined Sewer Overflow Station in Chicopee (MA) for the preparation of its opening later that month.
A sewage water overflow has prompted clean-up efforts in Florence County (SC) after an estimated 18,000 gallons of sewage made its way from the pump station to the Middle Swamp.
Stimulus Spotlight
In Indiana, Richmond Sanitary District officials will tackle the first of several court-mandated sewer projects with federal stimulus money. The district recently accepted a bid of $1.741 million for the project.
Missouri will get nearly $8 million in stimulus funding for rural development. The stimulus funding is provided for safe drinking water and improved wastewater treatment systems for rural towns and communities.
Sewer Rate News
Newark, DE
Funkstown, MD
Fredonia, NY
Elsinore Valley, CA
06.01.09
Monday’s Water News: Detroit Cancels CSO Control Project
The giant Upper Rouge Tunnel combined sewer overflow control project was canceled Friday by Detroit city officials worried about residents’ ability to pay increased sewer fees to build the $1.2 billion project.
Headlines
In Washington, a major sewage pipe that ruptured Saturday on Bainbridge Island continued to spill tens of thousands of gallons of raw waste into Eagle Harbor today, and an official said the line can’t be fixed until Tuesday morning.
Many residents in Graniteville, South Carolina are hopeful that Aiken County officials will be able to secure federal funding for an overhaul of the town’s sewer system.
Stimulus Spotlight
Bidders who want a piece of the $270 million the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has set aside for water projects from the economic stimulus have until June 15 to submit their projects for consideration.
Maryland will receive nearly $122 million in federal stimulus funds to help boost the state water infrastructure projects and improve the Chesapeake Bay.
Sewer Rate News
Joplin, Missouri
Litchfield, Illinois
Mansfield, Massachusetts
Newark, Delaware
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
03.27.09
Friday Headlines: Sewer Main Collapse in Fort Wayne Keeps Road Closed
Following up on a story from Tuesday, officials in Fort Wayne, Indiana say it will take longer than expected to fix a 30-foot deep sinkhole that’s closed a street near the city’s downtown since the weekend. The sinkhole was caused after a 125 year-old brick sewer main collapsed.
Headlines
Residents in Seabrook, New Hampshire will have to pay about $2.5 million less for their new water treatment plant thanks to the federal stimulus money allocated to the town. Construction of the new plant is expected to begin this summer.
Doheny State Beach, in Dana Point, California reopened today following a sewage spill that forced swimmers, surfers and divers out of the ocean Monday.
The state of Washington has received 347 applications totaling $416 million for the $38 million from the economic stimulus devoted to water projects.
The city of Hesperia, California will pay $6 milion for a new sub-regional wastewater facility with the goal is to make the city’s water supplies stretch further for an ever-growing population.
Sewer Rate News
West Cape May, New Jersey
Wilmington, Delaware
Xenia, Ohio
02.18.09
Wednesday Headlines: Communities Ask for Stimulus Funds for Water Projects
In Maryland, a state official has urged Somerset County Commissioners to use their influence to convince the county’s Sanitary Commission to apply for federal economic stimulus funds before a February 28 deadline.
Headlines
A water main break on Penn State’s University Park campus broke Wednesday morning, causing several buildings to lose water service.
Framingham, Massachusetts officials have given the state a list of more than 65 projects that will supposedly be “shovel-ready” within 180 days of approval, including a $43 million request for the construction of a water treatment plant.
In California, a southern Marin County sanitation district under federal orders to replace aging infrastructure will have spilled 300,000 gallons of bacteria-laden sewage into San Francisco Bay by noon today after a rupture in a sewage treatment plant pipeline.
Harnett County, North Carolina officials will apply for federal stimulus grant money for water and wastewater projects in the county. Among the projects submitted include expansion of a water treatment plant to meet regional service requirements to Fort Bragg.
Sewer Rate News
Jefferson, Ohio
Nashville, Tennessee
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Tuscon, Arizona
12.03.08
Wednesday Headlines: Two Million Gallon Sewage Spill in Delaware
A two million gallon sewage spill in Delaware has closed the Mispillion River from Milford to the Delaware Bay. A major sewer line along state Route 1 north of Milford broke, causing the discharge. The State Water Resources Director county sewage system managers had no choice but to divert sewage into the river. Two food processing plants halted production to help curb the discharge.
Headlines
As part of a pilot program aimed at reducing sewer blockages and overflows and accidental spills, the Raleigh suburb of Cary, North Carolina is encouraging residents to save their cooking oils, fats and grease in sealable containers. According to the town, such refuse contributed to 16 sewer overflows in 2006 and six overflows in 2007.
A water main break this morning flooded an intersection in southeast Rochester, New York. City crews are working in the area today, and dug a large hole to work on the water main.
Two northbound lanes of 50th Street in Tampa, Florida are closed while the city’s Water Department repairs a broken 24-inch water main. Restoration of the road surface is expected to be completed by the end of the week.
A local fitness facility in Norton Shores, Michigan may reopen today after being closed due to a water main break.
Sewer Rate News
Carlsbad, California
Frisco, Texas
Marietta, Ohio
Muncie, Indiana
11.20.08
Thursday Headlines: Editorial Addresses Infrastructure in Economic Stimulus
An editorial in today’s Arizona Daily Star addresses the need for an economic stimulus package that includes investment in infrastructure. Although the editorial focuses on the need to put people back to work by addressing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, it does specifically address the dire state of America’s wastewater systems.
Consider, for instance, the nationwide problem of sewage overflows. Many older cities have combined sewer-stormwater systems that overflow during big storms, dumping untreated waste into rivers and drinking-water reservoirs.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, at least $202 billion is needed to prevent sewer overflows at some 16,000 wastewater treatment plants across the country. While Congress can’t invest that kind of money immediately, it could make a down payment on a health threat that grows bigger every year.
