07.01.09
Wednesday’s Water News: Sewer Tunnel Almost Complete in Lafayette, Indiana
After nearly a year of digging, the $18.5 million sewer tunnel under downtown Lafayette, Indiana is nearly complete. The tunnel is being drilled to hold up to 1.2 million gallons of combined sewage and stormwater which will help reduce the amount of raw sewage discharged into the Wabash River during storms.
The city has increased sewer rates a total of 33 percent since April 2006 to generate the $27 million needed to pay for the tunnel, lift station and related work. An additional $84 a year in sewage fees for the average Lafayette household.
Headlines
Water officials in Tampa, Florida are rerouting traffic in the Tampa Heights neighborhood following a break in a 24-inch water main. Residents might see brown or discolored water while repairs are in progress.
The Sanitary District in Muncie, Indiana will borrow $9 million in bonds to clean up sewage overflow in Jakes Creek in northwest Muncie and in the White River.
Stimulus Spotlight
The City of El Paso, Texas is on the verge of receiving a $12 million no interest loan from the economic stimulus package for five stormwater projects to improve flood water drainage and flow around the city.
Lansing, Michigan now can pursue $16 million in improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant and could be forgiven for up to $6 million of the proposed project costs. While it could mean a sewer rate increase, officials said any increase should be kept at a minimum because the economic stimulus bill presents an opportunity for nearly half of the debt to be forgiven.
Sewer Rate News
Atlanta, Georgia
Jefferson City, Missouri
Louisville, Kentucky
Maui, Hawaii
06.30.09
Tuesday’s Water News: GAO Releases Study on Clean Water Trust Fund
Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study titled Clean Water Infrastructure: A Variety of Issues Need to be Considered When Designing a Clean Water Trust Fund.
GAO was asked to (1) obtain stakeholders’ views on the issues that would need to be addressed in designing and establishing a clean water trust fund and (2) identify and describe potential options that could generate about $10 billion in revenue to support a clean water trust fund.
In designing and establishing a clean water trust fund, stakeholders identified three main issues that would need to be addressed: (1) how a trust fund should be administered and used; 2) what type of financial assistance should be provided; and 3) what activities should be eligible to receive funding from a trust fund. Click here for for a summary of the study.
Headlines
On Thursday of last week, the Senate Appropriations Committe approved $2.1 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), $1.39 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and $150 million for targeted water and sewer projects as part of the FY 2010 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. And on Friday, before the Independence Day District Work Period, the House of Representatives passed the FY 2010 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill by a vote of 254-173, which includes $2.3 billion for the CWSRF, $1.44 billion for the DWSRF and $160 million for targeted water and sewer projects.
A water main break in Oklahoma City poored thousands of gallons of water onto the streets and into the buildings near downtown including a church charity. The water flowed unabated outside causing a sinkhole, which nearly swallowed the charity’s minivan.
Stimulus Spotlight
The city of Valdosta, Georgia is receiving $10 million in federal economic stimulus funds as part of an expansion of a wastewater treatment plant.
Sewer Rate News
Dyersburg, Tennessee
Holly, Michigan
Warren County, Ohio
06.17.09
Wednesday’s Water News: Water Main Break Washes Out Road in Monitor Township (Mich.)
A major road in Monitor Township, Michigan will remain closed until some time tomorrow after a break in a 36-inch water main washed out part of the road. It is likely that the age of the main–installed in the 1940’s–was partially responsible for the break.
Headlines
It took Spartanburg (S.C.) Water crews more than 10 hours Monday and Tuesday to clean up more than 94,000 gallons of raw sewage from a small creek.
The city of Essexville, Michigan has reported a combined sewer overflow from its wastewater treatment plant into the Saginaw River.
Stimulus Spotlight
Money from the economic stimulus package continues to reach down to southwest Colorado for infrastructure projects. The latest project to receive funding is in the town of Norwood. where they have been awarded a $540,000 grant to fix its water system.
Sewer tunnels in Cobb and Gwinnett counties are among $91.5 million in water and sewer projects statewide that the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority approved at its board meeting Tuesday. Of the 11 projects, five are at least partially backed by $40.5 million in federal stimulus money
Sewer Rate News
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Vero Beach, Florida
Waterford Township, Michigan
Williamstown, West Virginia
06.03.09
Wednesday’s Water News: Main Break Shoots Water Sky High in Colorado Springs
A water main break this morning in Colorado Springs, Colorado shot water about 100 feet high just before 3:30 a.m. this morning. The force of the water tore a large hole in the street, and scattered rock and gravel in the area.
Headlines
A water main break in Towson, Maryland which flooded much of the area and is still a traffic nuisance. The water caused the road of a major street to buckle and caused Baltimore County Police to close part of the southbound lanes in the area of the break.
Part of a Hilton Head, South Carolina waterway has been closed to swimmers after a blocked sewer line sent nearly 200,000 gallons of sewage gushing out of a manhole and into Battery Creek.
Stimulus Spotlight
Maryland has been awarded nearly $122 million Tuesday from the EPA to fund drinking water projects and improve water quality as part of the federal government’s latest round of stimulus spending.
Today the EPA announced it will give the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority $54.8 million in stimulus funds to help local governments finance improvements to water infrastructure.
Sewer Rate News
Johnson County, Kansas
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Prescott Valley, Arizona
Silverton, Oregon
05.11.09
Monday Headlines: Saginaw River Reaches Dubious Milestone
More than 1 billion gallons of partially treated sewage has been dumped into the Saginaw River so far this year according to the Bay City Times. The city of Saginaw has been the largest contributor of CSOs to the river with approximately 904 million gallons.
Headlines
16 Thomas County, Georgia families have until the end of this month to move their mobile homes because a 30-year-old sewer plant that violates health regulations needs to be closed for repairs. But the families who live there say they can’t afford to move.
A crack in a 24 inch main created a canal along a busy street in downtown Syracuse, flooding basements of some buildings and creating a headache for city work crews.
The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans says that a large portion of Eastern New Orleans will be experiencing low water pressure until further notice due to a break in a 50-inch water main.
Stimulus Spotlight
In Alabama, the cities of Birmingham and Montevallo are among a list of cities and communities set to receive a portion of $60 million in federal stimulus money for water and sewer projects.
Sewer Rate News
Marion, Ohio
Rewdwood City, California
05.06.09
Wednesday Headlines: Fort Wayne Rates May Double to Fund Sewer Projects
Under a funding proposal from Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Utilities Department, monthly sewer rates would nearly double in the next five years to construct the array of projects mandated to reduce combined-sewer overflows under the city’s consent decree with the EPA.
Headlines
Sewers are among the most popular projects among mayors for stimulus money. Of more than 18,000 projects on a wish-list compiled from more than 700 communities by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, more than 4,000 involved water or wastewater repairs or construction — second only to road projects.
Coquille, Oregon issued a notice Monday that 10,000 gallons of raw sewage mixed rainwater spilled into the Coquille River on Friday night and into Saturday after 0.45 inches of rain fell sending a surge of stormwater into the Coquille Waste Water Plant.
Stimulus Spotlight
In Kentucky, $4 million in federal stimulus money will help cover the cost of a $20.5 million project to increase the water supply to a fast-growing area in eastern Jefferson County. According to estimates, the project will create more than 160 construction jobs.
Work has started on a $30 million upgrade of Arlington, Washington’s wastewater treatment plant, the first project in Snohomish County to be paid for in part by federal stimulus money.
Sewer Rate News
Columbus, Indiana
Goodlettsville, Tennessee
Statesboro, Georgia
Warren, Ohio
04.23.09
Thursday Headlines: Senate Bill Introduced to Correct Sewer Overflows
Ohio Senators George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown introduced a bill, the Clean Water Affordability Act of 2009, on Wednesday that would give the EPA more flexibility in dealing with communities with sewer overflow problems and would create a $1.8 billion program over five years to provide federal grants up to 75 percent of a sewer project’s cost. A similar provision in the Water Quality Investment Act (H.R. 1262) passed by the House of Representatives in March includes $2.5 billion in grants over five years for sewer overflow control grants.
Headlines
In Kansas, a project to improve the city of Emporia’s water treatment plant is one of 39 drinking water infrastructure projects in the state selected to receive $360,000 in stimulus help. The money will pay for 20 percent of a $1.8 million project that has been on the city’s capital improvement plan for some time.
A valve malfunction led to a spill of about17,500 gallons of untreated sewage into the Pearl City area of Honolulu. City crews repaired the valve and were able to collect 105,000 gallons of sewage and transfer it back into the treatment system before it entered the harbor.
A large project in Dunwoody, Georgia that will double the size of a waterline bringing raw water from the Chattahoochee River to the reservoirs at a water treatment plant is slowly moving forward.
Sewer Rate News
Chouteau, Oklahoma
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
West Cape May, New Jersey
04.03.09
Friday Headlines: Duluth Reaches Final Agreement to Fix Sewer Overflows
Duluth, Minnesota has entered into a final agreement with the EPA and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on a consent decree to implement a long-term plan to fix the city’s sewer overflow problem by 2016. The total cost of the plan is estimated at $161 million.
Headlines
A cracked stormwater line about 45 feet underground is the likely cause of a large sinkhole n the parking lot of a government building in Wausau, Wisconsin. Crews must inspect wastewater lines to find and repair cracks before refilling the hole.
In Macon, Georgia, recent heavy rains have caused approximately 65,000 gallons of sewage to spill into a nearby creek near the Ocmulgee River.
The General Manager of Washingtonm, D.C.’s Water and Sewer Authority will resign this summer after 12 years. A move aimed at restoring public confidence following the discovery of excessive lead in the city’s tap water five years ago.
The city of Middletown, New York will receive $27.8 million from the economic stimulus package to fund a wastewater project begun in mid-February.
Sewer Rate News
Augusta Township, Michigan
Duncansville, Pennsylvania
Staten Island, New York
04.02.09
Thursday Headlines: Allegheny County Needs $21 Billiion for System Upgrades
In Pennsylvania, an audit of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (Alcosan) released this morning estimates the authority might need as much as $21 billion to comply with a federal order to upgrade its storm water and sewer management system. Below is an eye popping quote from the story.
…the authority’s funding troubles may lead to as much as a $3,104 annual rate increase for ratepayers in the Alcosan system if the authority doesn’t receive any outside funding to help pay for its system-wide upgrade, slated to start in about five years. Businesses served by Alcosan, they added, could see a rate increase anywhere between $3,000 and $25,000 annually…
Headlines
The City Council in New Bedford, Massachusetts has voted to recommend borrowing $19.3 million to fund the removal of almost 6,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated grit from the city’s primary sewer pipe. Removing the grit will increase the sewer main’s capacity thereby reducing the likelihood of overflows.
Rising water is overwhelming the storm drain system in Arlington, Georgia. The recent heavy rain has about ten thousands of gallons per day flowing out of the sewers there.
A precautionary boil water advisory remains in effect in Marion, Ohio after a break in a 20-inch water main on Wednesday morning reduced pressure.
Motorists driving in Durham, North Carolina will continue to be rerouted while city crews repair breaks in two parallel water lines. Repair work is dependent on weather conditions, which may delay the repairs for several days.
Sewer Rate News
Hampshire, Illinois
Lake Oswego, Oregon
New Windsor, Maryland
Suffolk, Virginia
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
