July 26, 2010
Monday’s Water News: Allegheny County Communities Affected by Water Main Break
This morning was a rough one for many families and businesses in who lost water in several Allegheny County (Penn.) communities. Residents say the water main break is the third in as many days for the area. Once water service was restored some residents discovered they had to let their faucets run for a while.
Headlines
The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati has finished a sewer system construction project in Green Township, which installed 3,750 feet of new sewer line and eliminated the need for several pump stations.
A water main break in Culpeper, Virginia sent over 300,000 gallons of water rushing down a main road in the residential district. The pipe that burst was only an 8-inch line, but the enormous pressure exacerbated the spill.
Stimulus Spotlight
The city of Chino Valley in Arizona has approved a new city budget on Friday night. The budget includes projects to restore water and other types of infrastructure and depends on up to $42.4 million in stimulus funds to accomplish these goals.
Over $11 million in federal stimulus funds have been granted to the city of Asbury Park, New Jersey. These funds will go to underground electric, sewer, and cable lines to improve services to the city’s residents.
Sewer Rate News
Decatur, Illinois
Irving, Texas
Louisville, Kentucky
Sarasota, Florida
South Bend, Indiana
July 13, 2010
Tuesday’s Water News: Sewer Pipe Leak Leads to Effluent Discharge into Sonoma Creek
A leaking sewage pipe is dumping untreated effluent into the Sonoma Creek in Sonoma, California. The leak may have been active for 12 hours before it was discovered; if so, the leak was dumping unimpeded at a rate of more than 100 gallons of sewage per minute into the creek.
Headlines
Officials in Nortonville, Kentucky are trying to figure out how to pay back a nearly three million dollar loan. In 2005, the city built a waste water plant using a loan from the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority. That loan was supposed to be paid back within one year of the plant’s completion, but still $2.8 million is owed.
The second leaking water pipe in a week has been discovered in Rockville, Maryland. It was reported in yesterday’s update that a water main was leaking, but it has finally burst. The 24 inch main is the second to break in a week and will extend the duration of water restrictions for Rockville residents.
A power outage in Shreveport, Louisiana over the weekend led to a hydraulic surge in the sewer line causing serious problems. Sewage is leaking into Lake Champion at a rate of 2,000 gallons a minute. The leak has been going since early Monday morning.
Stimulus Spotlight
A Groundbreaking was held for the Scott County Otter House Water Project in Hiltons, Virginia. The Tri-Cities area was awarded $2.25 million by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to entirely cover the cost of the project.
Sewer Rate News
Anderson, Indiana
Aurora, Oregon
Belmont, California
Birmingham, Alabama
June 23, 2010
Wednesday’s Water News: Storms Lead to Water Main Breaks, Flooding on Indian Reservation
After nearly five inches of rainfall in the past few days, an Indian reservation in Great Falls, Montana is faced with severe flooding. Ten different water mains ruptured and broke from the massive quantity of rainwater, leaving widespread flooding and water damage and no drinking water for the tribe’s natives.
Headlines
Kentucky state Rep. Larry Clark is among a bipartisan group of state lawmakers pushing for a Louisville-area pilot program on regionalization of wastewater treatment
Officials in Carroll County, Maryland are asking citizens to watch what they flush after an accumulation of plastics, towels, rubber gloves, and grease backed up sewer lines and resulted in 70,000 gallons of spilled raw sewage. The sewage managed to flow into two separate streams during the overflow.
Sewer Rate News
Astoria, Oregon
Charleston, West Virginia
Fernley, Nevada
Issaquah, Washington
June 14, 2010
Monday’s Water News: Louisville Deals With Mounting Sewer Debt
As the Metropolitan Sewer District debt in Louisville, Kentucky builds, residents are beginning to feel the pinch. The Metropolitan Sewer District maintains the highest level of debt it has ever sustained. There appears to be more trouble on the horizon due to a court-imposed rehabilitation program with an $850 million price tag.
Headlines
Nearly all of the Eastwood community in Syracuse, New York has been restored with adequate water pressure. An official claimed workers were able to restore the neighborhood with decent water pressure after they freed a valve that failed to respond correctly to a broken water main.
Mandated upgrades of wastewater treatment plants are affecting Portsmouth, Maine. These upgrades are designed to reduce the amount of nitrogen in the water and concomitantly the amount of nitrogen in the Great Bay Estuary into which the water flows.
A water main break early this morning in Alexandria, Virginia caused a sinkhole to form near a busy intersection this morning.
Stimulus Spotlight
In Arkansas, construction is set to begin in November on a project 60 years in the making. U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln announced that $37 million in federal funds are available for two high-volume pump stations at the heart of the Bayou Meto Water Management Project. These funds, derived from the American Recovery and Restoration Act, are essential to beginning the project, but more funds will be needed to see it through.
Sewer Rate News
Boston, Massachusetts
Las Gallinas, California
Montpelier, Vermont
Morganton, North Carolina
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
April 1, 2010
Thursday’s Water News: Sewer Overflow in Cedar Falls, Iowa
Residents are being asked to avoid the site of a sanitary sewer overflow in Cedar Falls, Iowa. City crews Tuesday discovered a plugged sanitary sewer line and wastewater was overflowing from a manhole into a drainage ditch. The sewer line was dug up, a broken pipe repaired and the area sprayed with a disinfectant.
Headlines
A boil water advisory has been issued for 138 Sarasota County Utilities customers and Park Isles Plaza businesses in The Inlets area of Nokomis, Florida. Repairs are being made to an 8-inch water main break.
The muddy Mississippi River becomes darkened with more than sludge in times of high water when sewage flows back into the river. Sewage in Illinois from Alton, Grafton and Chautauqua’s systems seems to be running back into the river during times of high water.
Stimulus Spotlight
Crews will install new water mains in Hinsdale, Illinois. This work reduces stormwater flows into Flagg Creek Water Reclamation District as part of an agreement with the village to begin separating the sanitary and storm water mains. The project costs $2.3 million, of which $1.62 million will be funded by federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Louisville, Kentucky has received over $4 million in economic stimulus funds for needed improvements to its drinking water system and expand service throughout the region.
Sewer Rate News
Allen County, Indiana
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Hugo, Minnesota
Patterson, California
March 31, 2010
Wednesday’s Water News: Flooding Causes Sewer Overflows in Rhode Island
The rapidly rising waters of the Pawtuxet River in Rhode Island caused unprecedented flooding at the West Warwick and Warwick sewage treatment plants yesterday, shutting down both plants and spreading untreated sewage. Such extensive flood damage of two major sewer plants has never happened before.
Headlines
Approximately 25,000 people living in Harrison Township, Michigan were without water for almost 12 hours on Monday when the water main which serves as the connector to Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) broke. The township receives all its water from DWSD.
Work is now underway on the largest of four sewer projects in Evansville, Indiana. City officials say the project will improve service to 1,500 homes, should be a major step forward in fixing the city’s sewer and drainage system.
Stimulus Spotlight
The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington has received $1.95 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, including $950,000 from the economic stimulus, for the purchase and installation of a manure bioenergy management facility.
Congressman Baron Hill visited Columbus, Indiana yesterday to tour the new wastewater treatment facility currently under construction. Part of the $50 million cost of the projects is being offset by $4 million in economic stimulus funding.
Sewer Rate News
Mattoon, Illinois
Milltown, New Jersey
Tyrone Township, Michigan
February 26, 2010
Friday’s Water News: Socorro, N.M. Receives $1.28M to Expand Sewer Service
New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman and USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner presented a check for $1.28 million to the City of Socorro, New Mexico. The funding came from the USDA Rural Development’s Community Programs to expand sewer service to 54 homes.
Headlines
A water main break on Granby Street in Norfolk, Virginia shut down traffic Thursday night and officials will keep the road closed through mid-day Saturday.
School was closed in Rowan County, Kentucky Tuesday due to a water main break just off Flemingsburg Road near the high school. The break was under a gas line, which made the repair a little bit more complicated.
According to the EPA Columbia, South Carolina has leaked large amounts of sewage into local rivers. Between January 2008 and November 2009, EPA records show 257 instances of sanitary sewer overflows impacting local waterways. In the 257 events, more than 3.3 million gallons of sewage went into local waterways.
Stimulus Spotlight
Almost $600,000 in federal stimulus money has been awarded to the Austinburg, Ohio sanitary sewer project. The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners announced the additional funding Thursday, bringing the total award from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to $1,422,920.
A $5 million wastewater facility expansion project funded partially through federal stimulus money got under way officially Tuesday morning in Gridley, California. The project calls for upgrading the plant to a high-rate headworks facility that will increase the plant’s capacity to 1.7 million gallons per day. The project will also replace aging sewer lines in the city.
Sewer Rate News
Arlington, Washington
Chesterfield, Indiana
West Branch, Iowa
February 25, 2010
Thursday’s Water News: North Carolina Town Recevies $4M for Wastewater Treatment
More than $4 million has been awarded to the town of Beulaville, North Carolina from the USDA for improvements to the town’s wastewater treatment plant. USDA is giving the town of approximately 2,000 residents a $2.295 million grant and a $2.3 million loan. The interest rate for the loan is 3.25-percent and must be paid back over the next 40 years.
Headlines
Ground was broken today in Oxnard, California on a construction project that is expected to give the city one of the most advanced wastewater treatment plants in the state. The project which is expected to cost $60 million will be partially funded by a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior and $15 million from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced the city posted its best sewage-spill figures of the decade in 2009. The city reported 38 spills last year, down from 365 in 2000 and 62 in 2008.
Stimulus Spotlight
Massachusetts State Treasurer Tim Cahill, who chairs the Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust, has announced that the Trust has successfully committed and certified its $185 million allotment of federal stimulus funding to 115 local drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
While Kentucky has already obligated its $73 million share of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for water and sewer projects, there is still money available.
Sewer Rate News
Doyelstown, Pennsylvania
Fairfield, Iowa
Maumelle, Arkansas
February 23, 2010
Tuesday’s Water News: Kentucky City Gets $1.3M for Water Treatment Plant
Kentucky congressman Ben Chandler presented the city of Harrodsburg, with a $1.3 million appropriation for improvements to a wastewater treatment plant. The improvements will benefit about 3,000 customers and will keep the facility in compliance with state regulations.
Headlines
In Salt Lake City, a water main break made a mess of roads near the Capitol and damaged some homes Tuesday morning.
A water main break in Rowan County, Kentucky has forced a shutdown of the school system. Maysville Community and Technical College also canceled classes because of the problem.
An estimated 7,500 gallons of sewage spilled this morning into the Santa Margarita River from the USMC base at Camp Pendleton in Southern California.
Stimulus Spotlight
In California, the Santa Clara Valley Water District will vote on a plan today to build a new $52 million recycled water facility at a water pollution control plant in San Jose. Financing for the project includes $11 million from the city of San Jose, $3 million from the state and$8.25 million from the economic stimulus funds.
Federal stimulus funds and a partnership between sewer districts are making possible a total rehabilitation of the Slater, South Carolina sewer system built in 1928. The $2.2 million in stimulus money will construct new lines and allow Slater’s Sanitary Sewer District to take ownership of the system once it is constructed.
Sewer Rate News
Altamont, Illinois
Howell, Michigan
Bellingham, Massachusetts
