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
06.11.09
Thursday’s Water News: Tunnel Project to Capture Half of Indy’s Overflows
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has announced that federal officials approved a change to city sewer improvement plans that will more quickly capture billions of gallons of sewage now overflowing into the White River. A $257 million Deep Rock Tunnel Connector project will replace earlier plans to connect the city’s two wastewater treatment plants and will capture more than half of the city’s overflows.
Headlines
Heavy rain caused two sewage spills in Alamance County (N.C.) last week. The city of Graham reported a spill on Friday of approximately 9,000 gallons, while the town of Swepsonville also a reported a spill of 4,800 gallons.
The Richmond, Indiana Sanitary District expects to replace part of its aging sanitary sewer line for almost $1 million less than the original estimate.
Stimulus Spotlight
Several Southern Colorado water projects have a good shot at receiving federal stimulus money due to the recent ranking by state water quality regulators.
Water districts in the Kansas counties of Osage and Pottawatomie will receive a total of $5.4 million in federal stimulus funds to install and replace water lines and build new water storage tanks.
Sewer Rate News
Bandon, Oregon
Rochester, New Hampshire
San Luis Obispo, California
Willards, Maryland
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
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
04.07.09
Tuesday Headlines: Small City Receives Stimulus Funds for Treatment Plant
Pittsburg, Kansas will get $1.74 million in federal stimulus money for improvements to its water-treatment plant. The funds will cover about 20 percent of the estimated $8.7 million cost of the project.
Headlines
In Michigan, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Services is assisting Oshtemo Township this afternoon with a sewer-main break.
A water main break this morning in Mendham, New Jersey causing one school to send its 250 students home and leaving several homes without water.
The village of Glendale, Ohio has suffered a large water main break leaving some residents with little to no water and those residents who do have water have a cloudy mineral tint to the water.
Due to a broken water main, Tallahassee, Florida has issued a precautionary boil water notice for a small area of the city. The city is asking customers in this area to take precautionary steps before preparing food or using water for drinking purposes.
Sewer Rate News
Charleston, Illinois
Texarkana, Texas
Waukee, Iowa
03.10.09
Tuesday Headlines: House to Consider SRF Bill This Week
The House of Representatives is expected to consider a bill this week that among other things would authorize $13.8 billion for the EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF). In addition, the Water Quality Investment Act (H.R. 1262) would provide more than $3 billion for water pollution and sewage control and other EPA water projects, and require sewage treatment plants to set up alert systems to notify the public within 24 hours of sewer overflows.
Some House Republicans have opposed the bill because of language that would require contractors to pay union-scale wages for work financed by the SRF. An amendment stripping the requirement, known as the Davis-Bacon Act, is expected to be part of the floor debate in the House. An amendment to strip Davis-Bacon requirements from a SRF authorization bill two years ago was rejected, 140-280, with 50 Republicans voting against it.
01.16.09
Friday Headlines: Kansas City Seeks Federal Funding for Sewers in Stimulus
Kansas City, Missouri is looking for help from the proposed economic recovery legislation to pay for part of its $2.4 billion in federally mandated sewer upgrades. Kansas City has identified $300 million in “shovel-ready” projects where construction could begin immediately if funding was provided.
Headlines
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is considering paying nearly $5 million more than originally planned to complete a sewer project in The Flats section of Cleveland, even though it’s unclear if a planned neighborhood will ever be built.
In California, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) has reached an agreement with regulators about fixing its a sewage overflow system. The settlement requires EBMUD to spend at least $2 million a year to speed repairs. EBMUD has estimated fixing the problems could take up to 30 years and cost several hundred millions dollars.
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission is repairing a water main break in College Park, Maryland that has damaged seven homes and left 10 customers without water. The 55-year-old pipe may have failed due to exposure to a few days of 40 degree weather followed by a string of 20 degree temps.
Crews in Greensburg, Pennsylvania are braving the bitterly cold temperatures today while they make repairs to a large water main break. The break set water gushing over the road, creating icy conditions and affecting traffic.
Sewer Rate News
Arma, Kansas
Jackson, California
Pawling, New York
01.06.09
Tuesday Headlines: N.J. Township Needs to Replace 78″ Sewer Main
Hamilton Township, New Jersey is prepared to complete the final phase of repairs to a huge pipeline that runs underneath Interstate 195 at a cost of $411,000. The 78-inch pipe provides the main inflow for sewage into the treatment plant, which is located adjacent to the state highway.
Headlines
Heavy rain from a New Year’s Day storm continued to wreak havoc on a Hillsboro, Oregon neighborhood on Monday. Many yards in the affected neighborhood were sitting under sewer water Monday night. One resident said it’s the third time in three years that the sewer overflow turned part of his parents’ back yard into a pond.
A pump malfunction allowed raw sewage to spill from a Columbia, South Carolina pipe near the Broad River for nearly eight hours Monday. City employees have been designing a temporary fix for the pumps since they were overwhelmed during a heavy rainfall on Dec. 11.
Tree roots blocking a sewer line caused about 8,000 gallons of raw sewage to flow into a Robbins, North Carolina creek on Friday. The water was tested for contaminates, but the results are not yet available.
The city of Mansfield, Ohio Water Repair Department and a local utility construction company are making repairs to a leaking 16-inch water main in nearby Ontario, Ohio. Motorists have been urged to use caution when driving through the construction zone.
Sewer Rate News
Arma, Kansas
Auburn, Alabama
Elyria, Ohio
Medford, Oregon
12.23.08
Tuesday Headlines: Massive Water Main Break in Bethesda, Maryland
It was a harrowing experience this morning for some motorists in Bethesda, Maryland after a break in a 66-inch water main flooded a major road in Montgomery County. To make the situation even more worse the temperatures were around 15 degrees at the time of the break. Here are reports from a number of news outlets.
Here’s the raw video from CNN.
The water main broke just before 8 a.m. As many as 18 cars may have been trapped in the water, which is said to be 3 to 4 feet high in some places.
A helicopter rescued people using a basket and transported them to safety. Crews using boats and a fire truck rescued others.
WTTG-TV has video of the rescue efforts
Swift water rescue crews used a helicopter, a boat and ropes to rescue motorists trapped when a water main break sent a four-foot wall of water down River Road near Fenway Drive…
At least a dozen vehicles were trapped and 15 or 16 people were rescued, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer said.
Rescuers scrambled helicopters and boats to pull commuters from frigid floodwaters unleashed by a massive water main break Tuesday on a commuter road just outside Washington.
One neighbor described the torrent as a river that filled the street after the rupture of a main measuring 5-1/2 feet in diameter.
12.18.08
Thursday Headlines: Broken Water Main in Cleveland, Ohio Installed in 1897
We’re now in day 2 of the massive water main break affecting water service in Cleveland, Ohio. Today The Plain Dealer pens a story detailing the city’s crumbling water and wastewater infrastructure. The break in the 42-inch main was put into the ground in 1897. Read the whole article but here are the first two paragraphs from The Plain Dealer story.
The perils of an aging water system struck Cleveland twice Wednesday, first when a 42-inch water main burst in the morning, cutting off water to much of the city, and again in the afternoon, when a drop in pressure temporarily left firefighters without water to fight a blaze in a downtown office tower.
The incidents underscored the sorry state of Cleveland’s deteriorating infrastructure. Massive water-main breaks are at least an annual event for a system largely built at the end of the 1800s.
