04.21.09
Tuesday Headlines: Rhode Island Town May Suspend Sewer Expansion
The Town Administrator of North Smithfield, Rhode Island has asked the Town Council to suspend a controversial town sewer expansion project for up to 60 days in response to criticism over the project’s cost. Some homeowners have voiced concerns about the long-term cost of the project, which is being financed by a $21-million sewer bond approved by voters in 2007.
Headlines
New Hampshire Governor John Lynch has announced that a total of 108 drinking water and wastewater projects will be partially funded by money from the economic stimulus.
The city of Lorain, Ohio will spend $3 million on the final phase of an Ohio EPA-mandated project to deal with the delivery and storage of sewage.
Works crews have finished cleaning up a 14,000- gallon sewage spill in Winterville, North Carolina after a small split in a sewer pipe sent raw sewage onto a pathway and into an adjacent canal.
The Bureau of Reclamation will spend $1 billion in federal stimulus money on water-infrastructure projects, including about $88 million in the state of Arizona.
Sewer Rate News
Jacksonville, Florida
Manteno, Illinois
Pontiac, Illinois
Star City, West Virginia
03.24.09
Tuesday Headlines: Part of San Diego Without Drinking Water After Break
Homes and businesses in a large portion of northern San Diego are without drinking water after a 24-inch water transmission pipeline burst on Sunday possibly contaminating the water supply. The city has ordered about 140 restaurants to shut down, and residents are being asked to use bottled water or boil their tap water.
Headlines
The state of Rhode Island has announced $150 million in federal grants and low-interest loans will be available for drinking water and sewer projects because of the federal stimulus legislation. The state estimates $149 million in proposed sewer projects and $20 million in proposed drinking water projects are considered “shovel ready.”
A sewage spill in Mission Viejo, California forced the closure of the Doheny State Beach on Monday. The closure comes two weeks after a 25,000 gallon sewage spill closed the beach.
Crews in the Niagara Falls, New York are working to repair a water main that broke and flooded a neighborhood, forcing some residents out of their homes.
A 125-year-old brick sewer pipe in Fort Wayne, Indiana caved in on Sunday creating a sinkhole and closing a portion of the road to all traffic. The road is expected to be closed two to four days as repairs are made.
Sewer Rate News
Gerber, California
Zanesville, Ohio
03.12.09
Thursday Headlines: House Passes Bill Authorizing $13.8 Billion for CWSRF
Today the House of Representatives passed the Water Quality Investment Act (H.R. 1262) by a vote of 317-101. The bill authorizes $13.8 billion over the next five years for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), includes $2.5 billion over five years for sewer overflow control grants and requires sewage treatment plants to set up alert systems to notify the public within 24 hours of sewer overflows. Despite the good news, The bill still must be considered by the Senate and Congress has not passed an authorization for the CWSRF since 1994.
Headlines
The state of Michigan will use the $236 million for water and sewer infrastructure improvements it receives from the recently passed economic stimulus bill to reduce the cost of projects for municipalities. The cost of sewer projects will be reduced by 23% and the cost of water projects will be reduced by almost 40%.
A $1 million low-interest loan from Ohio EPA’s Water Pollution Control Loan Fund will help the city of Toledo finance construction to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows and basement backups.
Part of Narragansett Bay is now clean enough for swimming and shellfishing after Providence, Rhode Island fixed it’s combined sewer overflow problem by cutting a five-mile tunnel into the rock under the city capable of holding 60 million gallons of wastewater that otherwise would be released into the Providence River partially treated.
Among the earmarks in the federal spending bill President Barack Obama signed Wednesday were about $1.5 million for upgrades to Lynchburg’s sewer system. The money will go for upgrades to its combined sewer system.
Sewer Rate News
Caroline County, Virginia
San Francisco, California
Santa Maria, California
Toms River, New Jersey
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
10.02.08
Thursday Headlines: California Issues $1.7 Mil in Fines for Sewage Discharges
In California, San Mateo, Hillsborough and the county-run Crystal Springs sanitation districts must collectively pay more than $1.7 million in fines to a regional enforcement agency for discharging raw sewage into streets, creeks and San Francisco Bay in violation of the Clean Water Act. In addition to the fines, the staff of the Regional Water Board is asking board members to approve a collective “cease-and-desist order” that would impose long-term requirements on each sanitation district to do better monitoring of pipeline leaks and come up with lasting solutions.
Headlines
Scientists for the state of Rhode Island are working to find out what is causing the high amounts of fecal coliform bacteria turning up in the Kickemuit River. The cause of the bacteria is unknown, however, there is a correlation between river bacteria and nearby storm drain bacteria, leading scientists to think polluted storm drain runoff is the cause of the river contamination.
In Chicopee, Massachusetts, 45 people met Wednesday night with city officials and design engineers about a combined sewer overflow problem which has particularly plagued the Lorraine and Stedman streets area. The city has $180 million worth of combined sewer overflow work it needs to separate over a 20-year period.
A large water main break in Shelton, Connecticut Wednesday evening, left 75 businesses and condominiums along a busy street without water.
Sewer Rate News
Belleview, Florida
Rochester, Michigan
08.20.08
Wednesday Headlines: Honolulu Found Liable for 297 violations in Sewage Spills
A federal judge has found the city of Honolulu, Hawaii liable for 297 violations of the federal Clean Water Act for discharging millions of gallons of sewage into streets, streams, homes and waterways over nine years. The judge’s order comes 10 months after ruling the city violated a federal wastewater discharge permit 4,013 times by failing to meet construction schedules for two key projects.
Headlines
In Newport Bay, California, a portion of Newport Bay was closed Tuesday afternoon after a sewage spill near Bayshore beach. The spill was caused by a sewer line that backed up from a rehabilitation hospital.
What was that story yesterday about Syracuse, New York having old water infrastructure? This morning, a water main break outside Crouse Hospital in Syracuse has flooded lower levels of the building and forced at least 12 surgeries to be postponed.
Water service was restored Tuesday afternoon to several residences and businesses in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania after a more than 17-hour interruption. The borough issued a boil advisory Tuesday morning “until further notice” as a result of the water main break.
Repairs have been made to a water main break in Kingston, Rhode Island after a cast iron 8-inch main that dated to 1884 cracked, closing down a one-block area.
Sewer Rate News
Lehigh Acres, Florida
Lewisville, Texas
Victoria, Texas
West Mahanoy Township, Pennsylvania
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
03.12.08
Wednesday Headlines: Plan in GA to Create Local Water Authorities is Tabled
A proposal in Georgia that would allow local governments to create water and sewer authorities has been tabled by the state legislature. Supporters of the plan viewed it as a way for communities to address their water and sewer systems, while critics were concerned it may hurt Atlanta’s $3 billion plan to update is sewer system.
Headlines
The Town of Bristol, Rhode Island will pay a $75,000 civil penalty to settle clean water charges related to its sewage overflow problem
A follow up from the AP story about drugs in the water that was released on Monday. Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois, has ordered the state’s environmental agency to begin screening waterways for pharmaceuticals and to promote safer disposal of medicines
