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
11.03.08
Monday Headlines: Providence Nears Completion of CSO Separation
The $359-million project to solve much of Rhode Island’s combined sewer overflow (CSO) problem is finally complete. Construction included drilling through solid rock 300 feet under downtown Providence. It has been the biggest, and longest-running, public works project in state history. The city’s CSO problems began more than 100 years ago, when city officials chose to combine the city’s storm water sewer lines with their new sanitary sewer lines.
Headlines
A number of streets are closed in Troy, New York after an apparent water main break flooded the downtown area.
Several homes in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia were flooded and had to be evacuated after a 30-inch main broke causing thousands of gallons of water to pour into the street.
Sewer Rate News
Lathrop, California
Laurel, Mississippi
09.23.08
Tuesday Headlines: Pennsylvania Voters Asked to Approve Borrowing $400m to Upgrade Water, Sewer systems
When voters in Pennsylvania go to the polls on November 4, there will be a referendum on the ballot asking them to approve $400 million in debt to help upgrade the state’s water and sewer systems. Municipal authorities with problems involving water and sewer infrastructure, stormwater issues, flood control or high-hazard dams would be eligible to receive funding.
Headlines
in Chicopee, Massachusetts, about a dozen residents with flooded basements from continued sewer overflow problems have asked the city for help. Combined storm water and sewer lines that need to be separated are the primary cause of the overflows.
A 30-inch water main break in Tampa, Florida forced the city to close a section of North 22nd Street on Monday. Repairs to the pipe are underway but the road resurfacing won’t be completed until Wednesday. The city is asking drivers to seek alternate routes until restoration is completed.
A delegation from the City of Laurel, Mississippi is scheduled to meet with Governor Haley Barbour’s staff today to discuss the city’s aging water and sewer line problems. Earlier this year city officials met in Washington, D.C. with members of the Mississippi congressional delegation about the need for federal assistance in addressing the nation’s water infrastructure.
Mayor of Milwaukee Tom Barrett has sent a letter to Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk expressing concern over the massive sewer overflows caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ike. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago estimates that as much as 99 billion gallons of water was untreated during the heavy rains two weekends ago.
Sewer Rate News
DuBois, Pennsylvania
Helena, Montana
Saint Joseph, Michigan
07.24.08
Thursday Headlines: Heavy Rain Causes CSO in Bay County, Mich.
Heavy thunderstorms on Tuesday afternoon caused of an overflow of partially treated sewage from a retention basin in Bay County, Michigan. More than 1.8 million gallons were discharged from the combined sewer system that takes in both stormwater and sanitary sewage in the same pipes.
In Delaware, with the municipal election just around the corner, Rehoboth Beach’s mayoral candidates quickly squared off over wastewater disposal alternatives.
The town of Porter, Indiana on will need a 60 percent sewer rate increase, in two phases, to bring the town’s system into compliance with Indiana Department of Environmental Management requirements.
Sewer Rate News
DeSoto County, Mississippi
Elkland, Pennsylvania
Los Altos, California
Ogunquit, Maine
07.16.08
Wednesday Headlines: Big Water Main Break in PG County, MD
A water main break early this morning in Langley Park, Maryland has completely shut down part of a major thoroughfare. Crews are working on repairing the 24-inch main and anticipate completion sometime on Thursday. The cause of the break was aging infrastructure. (picture courtesy of WRC-TV)
Headlines
Nearly 9 million gallons of sewage overflowed late Monday and early Tuesday into the Patapsco River at the Annapolis Road Bridge in Halethorpe, Maryland. The sanitary sewer overflow is believed to have started after an obstruction damaged a pump then causing a pumping station to flood.
Hundreds of Perth Amboy, New Jersey homes and businesses are without water this morning after a 20-inch water main break.
The village of Milford Center, Ohio finds itself in the position of needing to fund needed water projects, but not having the funds to do so. The village will eventually need to fund $450,000 to $500,000 in needed water system improvements.
The city of Fayette, Iowa has learned that the cost to bring its wastewater treatment facility up to state standards could be $1.2 million.
Sewer Rate News
Biloxi, Mississippi
Hermiston, Oregon
Massachusetts - the entire state
Mount Dora, Florida
06.24.08
Tuesday Headlines: Sinkhole Swallows Minivan in Rhode Island
A water main break Monday night in West Warwick, Rhode Island is the likely cause of a sinkhole that nearly swallowed up a minivan. (photo courtesy of WJAR-TV)
Headlines
The city of McComb will be receiving a $34 million loan from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to construct a wastewater treatment facility.
In Louisiana, Saint Charles Parish’s east bank water system needs more capacity because its 4 million-gallon-per-day workhorse treatment plant is in poor shape and can’t be shut down for an overhaul without causing a severe water shortage.
Rep. Phil English (R-Penn.) is pushing new legislation that would make it easier for state and local governments to get funding for water-related infrastructure projects. H.R. 6194, the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act, would lift the state cap on what are known as private activity bonds, a type of tax-exempt financing used on public projects.
Sewer Rate News
Hartland Township, Michigan
Hazelton, Pennsylvania
Mokena, Illinois
Sammanish, Washington
04.14.08
Monday Headlines: Drugs-in-Water Deadline Missed
A White House task force that was supposed to devise a federal plan to research the issue of pharmaceuticals in drinking water has missed its deadline and failed to produce mandated reports and recommendations for coordination among numerous federal agencies.
Headlines
In Pennsylvania, at some point in the near future, Moosic borough will transfer a portion of its sewer line on over to the city of Scranton.
A broken sewer line has caused a sinkhole in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (picture courtesy of the Hattiesburg American).
In Lillington, North Carolina, heavy rain last weekcaused 12,000 gallons of untreated wastewater to overflow into the Cape Fear and Black rivers.
Production at Appleton, Wisconsin’s troubled water treatment plant increased by 1 million gallons a day in March after a $600,000 project adding more filters.
04.11.08
Friday Headlines: EPA Tells Marin County to Address Needs
Here’s an update on the situation in Marin County, California. The EPA said Thursday that the county’s sewage collection systems should work together to address chronic sewage spills and start long-term repairs to aging sewer pipes.
Headlines
The city of Wentzville, Missouri teams up with the local Wal-Mart to inform residents about storm water pollution and how to prevent it.
A sewage spill scare in Gulfport, Mississippi created quite a stink this morning. The sewage soaked an old FEMA park and for several hours, environmentalists worried that the contaminants would seep into the nearby Turkey Creek.
In Milwaukee, heavy rains Tuesday and Thursday resulted in combined sewer overflows to urban rivers and Lake Michigan beginning Thursday night, and prompted the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District to begin blending partially treated wastewater with fully treated flows at the Jones Island treatment plant.
A broken sewer line causes a sinkhole that shuts down Easton, Pennsylvania’s Larry Holmes Drive
03.11.08
Tuesday Headlines: Local Water Commissions in VA May Lose Authority
A recent Virginia Supreme Court decision could wipe out the actions of dozens of local boards that raise money each year to fund water and sewer projects. In its decision the Court ruled that the imposition of tax and fees must be done by elected bodies. The fallout from this decision could be far-reaching if it is determined the ruling also applies to all unelected boards at the county and municipal level throughout Virginia–including those that charge for water and sewer services. Stay tuned.
Headlines
A Dallas Morning News editorial suggests the state legislature needs to come up with a proposal to finance water projects
The Pontotoc Union Lee Alliance in Mississippi will receive $2 million in federal funds to improve water infrastructure necessary to sustain the Blue Springs Toyota plant and its 2,000 expected jobs
For a city near San Diego, the debate is over how to get rid of its excess wastewater
What a mess. In the Plymouth, Wisconsin, 36,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled into a wetland after an underground pipe collapsed.
