07.10.09
Friday’s Water News: Details Revealed on Massive Hampton Roads Water Main Break
Last Thursday, approximately 2 million gallons of water gushed from a pipe in the Hampton’s Road Bridge Tunnel’s fire hydrant supply system, filled underground ducts and eventually caused the complete closure of the westbound tunnel as water pooled in the travel lanes. Today it was revealed water flowed for more than eight hours before the break was identified and traffic was diverted.
Headlines
Officials in Powdersville, South Carolina have broken ground on a new one-million gallon water storage tank in anticipation of future growth. State lawmakers see the project as a tool for economic development in the area.
Residents of a southwest Philadelphia neighborhood woke up at 4:30 a.m. to find water gushing into their homes due to a water main break.
Stimulus Spotlight
The state of Florida will use $11.2 million provided by the EPA from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to repair underground petroleum tanks currently contaminating ground water.
Lansing, Michigan has received $10.5 billion from the economic stimulus to help with the city’s sewer modernization project, but it still needs to spend spend $25 million next year and $283 million over the next 11 as part of the project.
Sewer Rate News
Galion, Ohio
Sussex County, Deleware
Fort Wayne, Indiana
06.23.09
Tuesday’s Water News: Senate Appropriations Subcommitte Approves Infrastructure Funding
The Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee unanimously approved legislation this morning that would cut environmental agencies’ spending by $200 million from what the House appropriations approved. The measure includes $3.6 for water and waster infrastructure.
Headlines
Beaches that have been closed in Greenwich, Connecticut due to heavy rainfall and sewage overflows have now been reopened. Byram Beach still remains closed to swimmers, however, because the rainfall in the shallow cove caused more concern.
A plugged valve caused an estimated 10,000 gallons of sewage to spill into a creek in Grass Valley, California. Valley officials are investigating why an alarm system didn’t sound when it happened. Signs have been posted warning people of the bacteria within the creek and contact with the water should be avoided.
Stimulus Spotlight
The Utah Water Quality Board meets Wednesday to consider requests involving the Ogdan River Restoration Project and 12 other similar projects around the state. The Ogdan River could be restored to a natural wider river channel that could accommodate higher flows, and reduce urban encroachment for $7.25 million. Ogden officials are hoping up to $4 million will come from federal stimulus money.
Sewer Rate News
Detroit, Michigan
Monroe, Pennsylvania
Spokane County, Washington
06.17.09
Wednesday’s Water News: Water Main Break Washes Out Road in Monitor Township (Mich.)
A major road in Monitor Township, Michigan will remain closed until some time tomorrow after a break in a 36-inch water main washed out part of the road. It is likely that the age of the main–installed in the 1940’s–was partially responsible for the break.
Headlines
It took Spartanburg (S.C.) Water crews more than 10 hours Monday and Tuesday to clean up more than 94,000 gallons of raw sewage from a small creek.
The city of Essexville, Michigan has reported a combined sewer overflow from its wastewater treatment plant into the Saginaw River.
Stimulus Spotlight
Money from the economic stimulus package continues to reach down to southwest Colorado for infrastructure projects. The latest project to receive funding is in the town of Norwood. where they have been awarded a $540,000 grant to fix its water system.
Sewer tunnels in Cobb and Gwinnett counties are among $91.5 million in water and sewer projects statewide that the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority approved at its board meeting Tuesday. Of the 11 projects, five are at least partially backed by $40.5 million in federal stimulus money
Sewer Rate News
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Vero Beach, Florida
Waterford Township, Michigan
Williamstown, West Virginia
06.12.09
Friday’s Water News: Sausalito/Marin City Fined for February Sewage Spills
The Sausalito-Marin City Sanitary District (Calif.) faces $332,000 in fines for three spills of more than 775,000 gallons of sewage that occurred in February when partially treated wastewater gushed into Richardson Bay after an underwater pipe at one of the district’s wastewater treatment plants burst.
Headlines
An equipment failure at a Barnstable, Massachusetts pumping station has caused several beaches around Lewis Bay to be closed until further notice.
Scott Township, Pennsylvania has secured a $2.5 million grant from the USDA–in addition the $15 million loan the agency had already allocated–for its long-awaited sewer project.
Stimulus Spotlight
On Long Island, the economic stimulus bill will pay $13.2 million to bring sewer service to 63 Locust Valley homes with failing septic systems, and an additional $10.4 million to build a sewer plant for a Brookhaven industrial park sited in a special groundwater protection area.
Ironton, Ohio’s persistence has netted the city federal stimulus money for its aging sewer system. Following an April 23 setback that shut out Ironton from receiving a portion of $278 million the Ohio EPA allocated for water and sewer rehabilitation, the state agency reconsidered this week and earmarked $5 million towards the city’s sanitary and overflow sewer separation facilities.
Sewer Rate News
Middlebury, Connecticut
Springfield, Massachusetts
Wellsley, Massachusetts
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
05.14.09
Thursday’s Water News: EPW Passes SRF Authorization
The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works today passed the Water Infrastructure Financing Act (S. 1005) which would authorize $20 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and $14.7 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund over the next five years. The legislation also includes $1.8 billion included for sewer overflow control grants and $1.43 billion in grants for critical drinking water infrastructure projects.
A similar bill, H.R. 1262, passed the House in March but only authorizes funding for the Clean Water SRF and not the Drinking Water SRF. The legislation must now be voted on by the full Senate and pass before going to conference. The Clean Water SRF and Drinking Water SRF have not been reauthorized in 22 years and 13 years, respectively.
Headlines
In Kentucky, about 20,000 Louisville Water Company customers have been put under a boil-water advisory after a 60-inch main broke Wednesday morning.
In Pittsburgh, a break yesterday in a 8-inch water main caused an 18-inch sewer to collapse causing a 25 feet wide and 15 feet deep in the middle of the road.
Stimulus Spotlight
The town of Boones Mill, Virginia will receive $3.3 million in stimulus money from the state’s Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund which will fund a new filtration plant, electric water meters and replacement of waterlines.
Sewer Rate News
Agawam, Massachusetts
Joplin, Missouri
05.07.09
Thursday Headlines: Allegheny County Estimates $30 Million Each for Projects
The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) has issued draft recommendations for sewage and storm water control and treatment facilities along the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River. Both projects would cost approximately $30 million each.
Headlines
A Washington, D.C. neighborhood was experiencing traffic delays after a 100-year-old twenty-inch feeder main broke sending water and mud gushing down the road soaking nearby basements.
In Alabama, the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System (MAWSS) responded to a sanitary sewer overflow after approximately 2,000 gallons of wastewater overflowed as a result of a blockage caused by debris and a grease blockage.
Stimulus Spotlight
Kentucky utility districts in Boyd County and Greenup have been preliminarily approved to receive a combined total of nearly $2 million in federal stimulus funds to complete water and sewer projects.
Sewer Rate News
Fort Wayne, Indiana
West Branch, Michigan
05.05.09
Tuesday Headlines: Alabama Considers Help for Jefferson Cty. Sewer Debt
A push is on to get state lawmakers in Alabama to consider using excess money from Jefferson County’s one-cent sales tax for schools to pay for the county’s massive sewer debt.
Headlines
A ruptured sewer line pumping raw wastewater into a creek in northwest Davenport, Iowa was under repair today by public works crews. As a precaution, chlorine is being added three times rather than the usual two times during treatment. In addition, chlorine is being added at the inflow pipe.
Newton, Iowa is exploring its options to correct sewer backups occurring in a neighborhood during heavy rains. Last year, the city hired an engineering firm to update its wastewater Facility Plan Update. In its study the engineering firm indicated that the sewer system in the affected area did not have adequate capacity to handle peak flow during heavy rain storms.
A water main that sprang a leak early Monday morning along Route 42 in Dayton, Virginia has been repaired.
Stimulus Spotlight
The town of Stanley, Pennsylvania will receive $100,000 in federal economic stimulus funds to control inflow and infiltration problems with the sewer system.
Sewer Rate News
Crown Point, Indiana
Newton, Massachusetts
Washington County, Maryland
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
04.20.09
Monday Headlines: Texas Reaching Decision on Stimulus Projects
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is in the process of reviewing approximately 1,000 applications for the state’s $340 million in economic stimulus funds for drinking water and sewer projects. The TWDB is focusing on shovel ready projects that make an immediate impact on the economy.
Headlines
Three Pennsylania communities in the Johnstown Regional System will receive nearly $12 million in loan-interest loans through PENNVEST to meet state mandates to reduce sewer oveflows.
A day before the Bosotn Marathon, some businesses had a mess on their hands on Sunday after a massive water main break flooded the streets.
A massive water main break in Bensalem, Pennsylvania on Sunday afternoon caused the road to buckle and left nearly 300 homes without water.
Officials in Niagra Falls presented their plan on Monday for helping a group of residents recover from a ruptured water main that caused extensive damage to homes last month.
Sewer Rate News
Marion, Ohio
Monroe, Louisiana
Williamston, South Carolina
