05.29.09
Thursday and Friday’s Water News: Pittsburgh Water Main Break Leads to Traffic Delays
Pardon my lack of posting yesterday as I was under the weather, to make it up to you here is a supersized update.
Drivers on Pittsburgh’s South Side were met with traffic delays on Thursday morning, after thousands of gallons of water went gushing from a broken 16-inch main into the streets leaving about 15 homes without water service.
Headlines
A break in a 24-inch water main closed a portion of a major road in West Springfield, Massachusetts, flooding it with about 2 million gallons of water and causing traffic problems.
The northbound lanes of a busy road in Utica, Michigan are closed because of a large water main break and the repairs are expected to take all day.
After more than four years of preparation, officials have broken ground on a state-of-the-art water filtration plant in East Chicago, Indiana. The $55 million facility will provide the purest drinking water currently available and replace the existing 45-year-old facility.
Stimulus Spotlight
The town of Wynot in the northeast corner of Nebraska is getting nearly $1.2 million in federal stimulus money for improvements to its water and wastewater systems.
Farmington, New Mexico has been awarded $2.1 million in federal and state funds to improve more than two miles of water piping–half paid through the federal stimulus bill and half through a state low-interest loan program.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday that 10 New York water and wastewater projects will receive $14.8 million through the federal stimulus package.
Money from the economic stimulus package will pay for the construction of nine miles of water pipelines in downtown Tampa and Davis Islands. The funding will come from a $23 million low-interest loan and a $2.5 million grant and is expected to create about 125 jobs beginning this October.
Sewer Rate News
Goshen, New York
Middlebury, Vermont
Portland, Oregon
Washington County, Oregon
02.26.09
Thursday Headlines: Obama Wants More Funding for Water Infrastructure
States would receive more federal dollars for drinking water and sewer systems under the budget President Obama proposed today. The President’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget would provide $3.9 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The White House expects the increased investment to fund over 1,000 clean water projects and nearly 700 drinking water projects annually.
Headlines
New Mexico is set to receive nearly $40 million in federal stimulus money to improve water quality, drinking water infrastructure and sewage treatment systems. State officials agree however that the stimulus money will only begin to address the its need for water system improvements.
In Michigan, more than 100 million gallons of sewage flowed to the Saginaw River earlier this month after an overflow from the Saginaw Wastewater Treatment Plant. For 2009, has had combined sewer overflows totaling 112,000 gallons.
A water main break is causing problems for business owners in Charleston, West Virginia this morning. Some business owners affected by the break have report water entering their buildings.
In Milwaukee, traffic on the Locust Street bridge was reduced in both directions after a 21-inch combined sewer pipe collapsed opening up a huge sinkhole.
Sewer Rate News
Charlottesville, Virginia
Saratoga Springs, New York
12.05.08
Friday Headlines: Water Main Break Postpones High School Football Games
In Massachusetts, a water main break at Worcester State College has postponed three high school football regional championship games scheduled for Saturday. The games will now be played on Sunday. A decision was made late Friday morning by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Headlines
Twelve homes in Lower Allen Township, Pennsylvania were without water for just over nine hours Thursday due to a water main break.
Baltimore public works crews have been trying to identify the source of a leak in a 42-inch water main and repair it so the road which the pipe is under can be reopened to traffic. Mechanical failure at a nearby pumping station caused a surge of water that led to leaks at several joints.
With local budgets tightening around New Mexico, Ruidoso Village councilors have discussed ways of creating new revenue streams to pay for a multi-million-dollar construction project for the Regional Waste Water Treatment Plant.
In North Dakota, the federal government is recommending a water treatment option for the Northwest Area Water Supply project that would cost $17.5 million to build and $306,000 a year to maintain.
Sewer Rate News
Indianapolis, Indiana
Le Mars, Iowa
07.07.08
Monday Headlines: Bridgeport Sewer Project Nearing Completion
Since Spring 2004, the East Side of Bridgeport, Connecticut has been undergoing a massive project to replace the area’s old sewer mains. While residents have complained about torn up streets there is good news as the project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
In addition, the city is separating its storm sewer and sanitary sewer systems. Bridgeport has not upgraded its sewer system since it was first installed in the early 1900s.
Headlines
More from the Nutmeg State, a portion of Route 85 in Waterford is expected to reopen today as crews repair the damage this weekend from a broken water main. Water from the break, which occurred early Friday morning, eroded the earth under the pavement and left a 10-foot-deep hole between 10 and 15 feet in diameter in the middle of Route 85.
In Albuquerque, A huge sinkhole nearly swallowed a fire truck this morning. The sinkhole was formed after a large water line broke under the street.
In Lewiston, Maine, public works crews worked through the night on Saturday to repair a broken sewer pipe, after the collapse of a section of a 20-inch sewer line serving a large part of the city. Crews planned to repair the line by cutting out the broken section and attaching a new PVC-pipe with couplings to the existing clay line.
Sewer Rate News
Dillon, Montana
Jacksonville, Florida
Ocala, Florida
O’Fallon, Missouri
05.15.08
Thursday Headlines: Sewer Line Collapses in Charlotte
A sewer line collapsed overnight on Thursday and has caused major traffic problems in part of Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the Charlotte Department of Transportation, a contractor was working overnight to install a new water main when a nearby sewer line collapsed.(picture courtesy of WSOC-TV)
Headlines
Citizens of Beachwood, New Jersey are concerned about high iron content in the water.
After a lot of work and $3 million later, Mill Hall, Pennsylvania has repaired its sewer system.
The Gallup, New Mexico wastewater plant is in shambles.
Sewer Rate News
Chicopee, Massachusetts
East Aurora, New York
Holbrook, Massachusetts
Niles, Ohio
04.17.08
Thursday Headlines: SRF Pays for Water Projects in Montana
Loans of $958,160 from the Montana State Revolving Fund have been approved for new water and sewer lines, helping finance another phase of a major public health improvement effort on the southern fringe of Great Falls.
Headlines
In Alabama, the Jefferson County Commission may have to ask Governor Bob Riley to call a special session of the Legislature to help the county complete a plan for paying its sewer debt.
Sutter County, California and its two citieshave reasons for looking into combining wastewater treatment efforts.
Water Infrastructure Finance Authority has approved a low-interest $8.5 million loan to Flagstaff, Arizona to drill and equip four new wells to help meet the drinking water needs of the city’s nearly 60,000 residents.
The Moriarty, New Mexico City Council heard several options for a loan-grant program to build, repair and improve public water and waste collection and treatment systems through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program.
04.04.08
Friday Headlines: Domenici Backs Water Treatment Project
Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M), has backed a wastewater treatment plant project in Aztec, New Mexico and is requesting $500,000 from the EPA for the $7 million project. Sen. Domenici has requested the money from the EPA’s State and Tribal Assistance Grants program. If approved, the grant would require 45 percent in non-federal matching funds.
Headlines
In Virginia, Depoe Bay’s water treatment plant will be updated with the purchase of a new programmable logical controller.
Many small communities in Minnesota have outdated sewage systemsthat need replacing. But the high cost of such a project is delaying improvements. In Minnesota the backlog of wastewater needs is $3 billion.
The health of the Chesapeake Bay is dismal and more than three decades of restoration efforts have done little to improve the condition of the nation’s largest estuary, according to two independent assessments released Thursday. The Bay has long suffered from massive unnatural influxes of nitrogen and phosphorous, largely from sewage wastewater, agricultural and urban runoff, and air pollution.
