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.
11.10.08
Monday Headlines: Atlanta Completes Deep Sewer Tunnel Construction
In Atlanta, Georgia, after three years of digging and pouring concrete, construction crews have completed a deep sewer tunnel that can carry and store up to 177 million gallons of rain and sewage. The $190 million tunnel has been the most controversial piece of the city’s $4 billion overhaul of its water and sewer system. about 10 percent of Atlanta remains hooked to combined sewers.
Headlines
A water main break flooded an east side neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio this morning. Streets in the area were flooded with several inches of water and seventy-five homes were without water service.
Residents in Placerville, California were told Friday they could resume using their tap water without boiling after a possible contamination threat caused by a water main break. About 4,500 customers were affected by the break.
Michigan regulators have taken action to prevent major problems with a wastewater treatment plant in the city of Harbor Beach. The city has signed a consent order with the state Department of Environmental Quality, agreeing to pay a $28,700 fine, reimburse the DEQ for enforcement costs and upgrade the plant’s Industrial Pretreatment Program.
The EPA is requiring the city of Burley, Idaho to improve its wastewater treatment plant, including the reduction of effluent phosphorous and ammonia. The city estimates improvements will cost at least $2 million over the next five years.
Sewer Rate News
Bloomington, Illinois
Columbus, Ohio
Laurel, Mississippi
Modesto, California
11.06.08
Thursday Headlines: Sinkhole Swallows Car After Water Main Break
Work crews in San Diego repaired a ruptured water line Thursday morning that sent muddy water flowing through a neighborhood. The broken water main forced evacuations, flooded homes and caused a sinkhole that swallowed a parked car. The mishap left dozens of homes without water service overnight.
Headlines
In Western Pennsylvania, the tiny borough of West Leechburg plans to borrow more than its annual budget to separate the sanitary and storm sewers in the last area of the borough where they still are combined. The council is scheduled to vote next week on borrowing $400,000, which would cover half the cost of the $800,000 project.
A Wednesday morning water main break in Coloroado Springs, Colorado caused some headaches with 18 homes losing water. The situation is expected to get worse for the city temperature changes comdined with aging pipes is expected to lead to more breaks.
An assisted living facility in Lincoln, Illinois cleared a major hurdle for a proposed expansion project Monday when the City Council approved changes to a sewer upgrade.
Before Duluth, Minnesota can build its next underground holding tank for sanitary sewer overflows, it’s got some cleanup to do. The chosen site has been found to contain lead, diesel compounds and selenium that exceed state health risk standards.
Sewer Rate News
Sayre, Pennsylvania
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
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.
10.27.08
Monday Headlines: In Boston, 16-Inch Water Main Break Closes Streets
Boston Public Works crews worked overnight on Saturday and all day on Sunday after a 16-inch water main ruptured. Roads were shut down around City Hall and the Brooke Courthouse, and a stretch of Cambridge Street was slightly buckled by the break. Some homes were flooded and other residents reported low water pressure.
Headlines
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is investigating the cause of the discharge of nearly 400,000 gallons of sewage sludge from a sewage treatment plant in Bordenton Township.
Water-main breaks during routine hydrant flushing are believed to be the cause of an E. coli contamination last week in Fulton, New York. Said Mayor Ron Woodward, “We have 63 miles of water line in the city and some of them are 100 years old.”
New Castle County, Delaware faces more than $145,000 in penalties and other expenses for violating a five-year-old order to improve overflowing sewage and stormwater collection systems.
In Miles Crossing, Oregon, work has begun on a long-awaited sewer system. The $8.1 million project is expected to take a year to complete and will initially serve about 400 homes and businesses.
Sewer Rate News
Ashland, Pennsylvania
Homer, Alaska
Lake County, California
Lincoln, Illinois
10.22.08
Wednesday Headlines: Illinois City Works on Wastewater Plant Plans
The wastewater treatment facilities in South Beloit, Illinois are working beyond their intended capacities and commissioners say a new plant is a necessity. The system was designed to handle 3 million gallons but is currently processing 3.5 million gallons a day. This summer, the city ran more than 8 million gallons per day as the Rock River waters rose and ground levels increased because of land saturation.
Headlines
A water main break in Fenton, Michigan Saturday afternoon caused some flooding and the loss of nearly a million gallons of water. The city lost between 800,000 and 900,000 gallons of water before the main could be shut down.
The water is back on in downtown San Luis Obispo, California after city employees worked tirelessly to fix a water main break. A surge in the system caused a main to rupture and led to ruptures on several other adjacent streets.
Officials in Cape Charles, Virginia are simultaneously pursuing solutions to growing water and wastewater needs to meet future demand and a state-imposed deadline for a new treatment plant that lessens the impact to the Chesapeake Bay.
Representatives of rural water systems including a regional water project for north-central Montana stopped in the city of Havre to tell local elected officials and state legislative candidates about the need to increase funding for those projects.
Sewer Rate News
Missoula, Montana
Wenatchee, Washington
10.20.08
Monday Headlines: New Technology to Help Chico, Calif. Monitor Sewer System
New sewer monitoring technology will allow Chico, California to keep a better eye on its sewer system and plan ahead to avoid future problems. The meters will monitor the amount of water going through the sewer system, without having to pay someone to monitor the sewers during winter rainstorms.
Headlines
In New York, boaters and other Hudson River enthusiasts will need to take a break from the watertoday because Westchester County is planning to release 2 million to 3 million gallons of treated sewage through a Yonkers pump station in order to make a repair to the waste system.
A sinkhole slowed traffic on U.S. 1 in Woodbridge, Virgnia on Saturday. A split water main caused the hole to form around 8 a.m., leaving a gas station in the area without water. Traffic was reduced to only two lanes - one southbound and one northbound.
Broken water mains in Watchung, New Jersey forced affected residents to boil their water on Saturday.
Government officials and financial experts are warning that a freeze in the market for municipal bonds could cause major delays nationwide in government projects as basic as replacing water pipes.
Sewer Rate News
Brockton, Massachusetts
Clearlake Oaks, California
Crescent City, California
Libertyville, Illinois
Ocheyedan, Iowa
10.14.08
Tuesday Headlines: As Funding Decreases Tennessee’s Needs Grow
There is a growing gap between badly needed improvements to Tennessee’s water and wastewater infrastructure and the funding to complete those projects, according to a recent study conducted by the Tennessee Infrastructure Alliance.
According to the Tennessee Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, the cost of 1,773 needed water system improvement projects increased by $349 million between 2004 and 2005 to a total of $3.3 billion. The report also points out, available funding for such projects is dropping. State revolving funds have dropped by 33 percent between 2004 and 2006 and federal funding has dropped by nearly 79 percent since 1980.
Headlines
Some Jersey City residents are advised to boil their water after a break in a 30-inch water main early Tuesday morning. Residents in the affected area can expect lower than normal water pressure or even no water in high rise buildings. Repairs are expected to take most of the day.
A water main break in Robbins, Illinois forced three schools to close Tuesday morning. Robbins police say the water main erupted Monday night. They expect to have water restored Tuesday afternoon.
It is unclear if a Rite Aid in Yakima, Washington will reopen today after a water main ruptured twice outside the store on Monday. Officials noted that between 25,000 and 30,000 gallons of water was lost during the first break.
A broken water main under Grand Avenue in Wausau, Wisconsin forced the closure of the northbound lane this morning.
Sewer Rate News
Ambridge, Pennsylvania
DuBois, Pennsylvania
Oakwood, Illinois
Prichard, Alabama
Woodstock, Ohio
10.07.08
Tuesday Headlines: Sacarmento Looks to Upgrade its Sewer System
District officials are recommending that the Sacramento Area Sewer District board spend millions of dollars installing new hardware and cleaning lines to prevent costly sewage overflows. In recent years, the number of claims against the district - most often a result of raw sewage spilling into a home - has tripled. In 2007, the district paid $3.1 million in settlements.
Headlines
A water main break in Alexandria, Virginia left four high-rise apartment buildings without water from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. this morning.
A broken water main shut down part of Atlantic Street in Bridgeton, New Jersey for much of the day on Monday. “That’s just another old section that we have,” said Department of Water and Sewer Superintendent John Wuzzardo. “We had to replace 13 feet of main. … Just old pipe. Not much we can do. I don’t know how old that section is, but we have 100-year-old pipe.”
In New York City, Department of Environmental Protection officials are monitoring a water main break that has shut down several streets and one entrance to the Holland Tunnel. City officials also say flooding may have undermined the integrity of part of the street.
Sewer Rate News
Honesdale, Pennsylvania
Lincoln, Illinois
Lynn, Massachusetts
Oneida, Illinois
09.24.08
Wednesday Headlines: $843 Mil. Needed to Repair Louisville’s Sewer System
The Metropolitan Sewer District of Louisville, Kentucky says its massive court-imposed plan to rehabilitate the sewer system will cost about 5 percent more than previously estimated. The new estimate of $843 million will pay for repairs to a system that annually spills about 4 billion gallons of sewage into local waterways, such as the Ohio River.
Headlines
In Chicago, a car was damaged after partially falling into a sinkhole created by a water main break. The car, which was parked, fell in after it the ground around it caved. “When the main broke, the water undermined the pavement and soil and created a hole,” said a City Department of Water Management spokesperson.
A quarter of a million people in the Houston region are still without running water nearly two weeks after Hurricane Ike caused extensive damage, Restoring water service may prove complicated. The problem has a myriad causes including severe infrastructure damage in coastal areas.
Sludge and sewage runoff from Bismarck, Missouri’s current treatment plant into a receiving stream has forced the city to move forward with plans for a new wastewater treatment plant or face stiff fines from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Southeastern Michigan has proposed investing $2.4 billion in projects aimed at reducing combined sewer overflows in communities, according to a report released Tuesday by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. The projects, in which about $1 billion is in place now, has resulted in an 85 percent reduction in untreated CSO discharges from 1990 levels, the report said.
Sewer Rate News
Bradenton, Florida
Humble, Texas
Huntington, West Virginia
Riverside, California
