07.09.09
Thursday’s Water News: Seattle Main Break Releases 860,000 Gallons of Water
A water-pipe break on Harbor Island in Seattle Wednesday evening released 860,000 gallons of water, flooding railroad tracks and a freight-storage building.
Headlines
A $4 million sewer line project proposed for the Rattlesnake area of Missoula, Montana will go to the Missoula City Council next week. The sewer line would convert more than 300 residential properties from septic to a sewer main.
About 11,000 residents in Fredonia, New York are being advised to boil their water today because of a water main break there Wednesday night.
Stimulus Spotlight
Officials in Smyrna, Delaware have approved contracts funded by $3.7 million in federal stimulus dollars to upgrade the town’s drinking water system. In the first phase, George and Lynch Inc. will replace six valves in a 10-inch water main from a water tower. Then Sprig Construction will replace a two-inch water main in the town.
The city of Fort Wayne, Indiana has received a $1.5 million stimulus grant and a $3.5 million low-interest loan, which will be used to finance three sewer separation projects.
Sewer Rate News
Bethlehem, West Virginia
Corsicana, Texas
Des Plaines, Illinois
07.08.09
Wednesday’s Water News: Rainfall Causes Record Beach Closures in Massachusetts
The state of Massachusetts has had a record number of beach closures so far this season, mainly due to high bacteria levels caused by heavy rainfall. According to the state’s Department of Public Health there have been 188 closures of the state’s roughly 1,100 bathing beaches.
Headlines
Whitestown, New York contractor crews will be testing sewer lines this week for the engineering study for the Oneida County Sewer District’s overflow abatement project. The test locates leaks, faulty connections and broken pipelines in the system which will prevent overflows.
Some good news out of Orange County, California that for the sixth year in a row sewage spills have dropped. This is part of a continuing trend toward cleaner beaches the sewage spill rate has been at its lowest since 2000.
Stimulus Spotlight
The Texas Water Development Board has been awarded $160 million worth of stimulus funds to help finance the cost of replacing water infrastructures in the state. EPA officials say the funds will go to invest in several overdue water projects that are essential to protecting public heath and the environment.
Two Utah Indian tribes are getting pieces of the $90 million in stimulus money targeted at helping to upgrade water quality and create jobs for tribal communities nationwide.
Sewer Rate News
Hamilton, Iowa
Herber Springs, Arkansas
Kansas City, Missouri
New Albany, Indiana
07.07.09
Tuesday’s Water News: Main Break Stops Essential Water Use in South Austin (Tx.)
Residents of Austin, Texas were told to stop all essential water use, including outdoor watering, this morning as crews began repairing a 54-inch water main. The water line provides the city with 60% of the drinking water for residents and businesses south of the river and is one of the city’s main water arteries.
Headlines
A pipe burst in a building near Shepard Park Beach in New York caused 10,000 gallons of raw sewage to dump into the Adirondack Lake over the holiday weekend. The Lake George beach was forced to close on one of the busiest weekends for the area. Clean up of the beach is scheduled to begin Tuesday and the beach will be reopened as soon as possible.
The New Jersey Local Finance Board is considering a borough of Buena’s Municipal Utilities Authority project which is a federally financed project that will take 12-15 months to complete. The project has two impacts on the MUA. First, the new system will send treated wastewater into lagoons, where it will percolate into the ground. Wastewater presently is sent into a stream. Second, the authority’s capacity to treat wastewater will increase from 400,000 gallons to 600,000 gallons, enabling more service for residential and commercial uses. That also benefits neighboring Buena Vista Township, which has the right to use one-third of the increase in treatment capacity.
Stimulus Spotlight
Delaware state lawmakers and public officials accepted $19.2 million in federal money to clean up water. Governor Jack Markell said the money will allow the state to employ citizens in “green jobs.”
Sewer Rate News
Laramie, Wyoming
Mount Airy, North Carolina
Middlesex, Massachusetts
07.06.09
Monday’s Water News: D.C. Sewage Plant in Need of Costly Upgrades
Plans for fixing Washington, D.C.’s Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant carries a hefty price tag. Nitrogen upgrades have to be fixed by 2015 under the new EPA permit, and the combined sewer overflow problem is on schedule to be fixed by 2025.
For the nitrogen work, the states of Maryland and Virginia will kick in money, as a large amount of the Blue Plains sewage comes from their residents, but the bigger bill–the $2.2 billion for the sewer overflows–has to be paid for solely by D.C. residents.
Headlines
Sewer workers are still trying to identify and temporarily fix a leak in Provincetown, Massachusetts’ wastewater collection system, following a July 4th weekend with nymerous overflow calls.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is calling the Michigan City Sanitary District’s sewer overflow reporting unsatisfactory after it was discovered there are no records of a number of overflows for a period of three years prior to a spill in May.
In Austin, Texas, water officials are urging swimmers to stay away from Bull Creek after thousands of gallons of sewage spilled into a tributary of the creek Saturday.
Stimulus Spotlight
Despite the slow pace of the stimulus spending in Arizona, in Tempe, new work on a stimulus-funded water-treatment system is expected to soon support 260 jobs.
Sewer Rate News
Norwood, Massachusetts
Sterling Heights, Michigan
07.01.09
Wednesday’s Water News: Sewer Tunnel Almost Complete in Lafayette, Indiana
After nearly a year of digging, the $18.5 million sewer tunnel under downtown Lafayette, Indiana is nearly complete. The tunnel is being drilled to hold up to 1.2 million gallons of combined sewage and stormwater which will help reduce the amount of raw sewage discharged into the Wabash River during storms.
The city has increased sewer rates a total of 33 percent since April 2006 to generate the $27 million needed to pay for the tunnel, lift station and related work. An additional $84 a year in sewage fees for the average Lafayette household.
Headlines
Water officials in Tampa, Florida are rerouting traffic in the Tampa Heights neighborhood following a break in a 24-inch water main. Residents might see brown or discolored water while repairs are in progress.
The Sanitary District in Muncie, Indiana will borrow $9 million in bonds to clean up sewage overflow in Jakes Creek in northwest Muncie and in the White River.
Stimulus Spotlight
The City of El Paso, Texas is on the verge of receiving a $12 million no interest loan from the economic stimulus package for five stormwater projects to improve flood water drainage and flow around the city.
Lansing, Michigan now can pursue $16 million in improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant and could be forgiven for up to $6 million of the proposed project costs. While it could mean a sewer rate increase, officials said any increase should be kept at a minimum because the economic stimulus bill presents an opportunity for nearly half of the debt to be forgiven.
Sewer Rate News
Atlanta, Georgia
Jefferson City, Missouri
Louisville, Kentucky
Maui, Hawaii
06.15.09
Monday’s Water News: Water Main Break Floods Bronx Streets
A water main break transformed four blocks of the Bronx, New York into a swimming pool early Sunday morning, flooding streets, cars and causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
Headlines
Last week’s heavy rains caused sewage spills in several Dallas-area cities. The largest spill by far was in Fort Worth, where 1.1 million gallons spilled.
A water main break caused water to spill into a home in West Valley, Utah over the weekend causing muddy water to gush up through a crack in the sidewalk and pour into the home.
Several business, an apartment building and a hotel in San Diego were without water Saturday when a nearby 16-inch water main broke. Twelve hours after the problem was first reported, the hotel’s manager said they still did not have water.
Stimulus Spotlight
The Dayton, Ohio area is getting additional stimulus dollars to improve drinking water quality and fund water pollution control projects. Ohio EPA has added three Montgomery County projects to its revised fundable list for economic stimulus projects.
Sewer Rate News
Grand Ledge, Michigan
Riverdale, Utah
Stillwater, Oklahoma
06.05.09
Friday’s Water News: Millbrae, Calif. to Replace Wastewater Treatment Plant
In California, the city of Millbrae and its over 50-year-old wastewater treatment plant will get a much needed makeover after the city inked a $34 million contract with the California Water Resources Control Board to use state revolving fund financing for the project.
Headlines
In Fort Myers Beach, Florida, a water main break closed down San Carlos Boulevard. The main break this morning flooded the road and forced water to be shut down in about 80 homes.
Raw sewage has flowed into Overton creek (TX) for the 3rd time in four years. On a piece of land more than 400 feet long by 75 feet wide raw sewage sits about eight inches deep.
Water is overflowing in High Point, North Carolina after a major break in a water main has closed the south and north bound lanes of state Highway 311.
Stimulus Spotlight
Rockford, Illinois will be using $7 million in federal economic stimulus funds to complete “some badly needed” water infrastructure projects
$130 million will be awarded to 22 communities throughout New York for the construction of water treatment plants and the installation of sewer system upgrades. The projects are estimated to create 1,300 jobs across the state in many areas that have been affected severely by the current recession.
Sewer Rate News
Ogden, Utah
Rockford, Michigan
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
06.04.09
Thursday’s Water News: Massive Water Main Break in Norfolk
A major thoroughfare in Norfolk, Virginia was reopened this morning after a break in a 30-inch water main flooded the nearby railroad underpass in 6 feet of water Wednesday evening.
Headlines
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is looking for public input on two sewer projects proposed by the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, one to serve the city’s growing northeast side and the other to shore up a deteriorating pipe.
Water quickly rushed down a road in the eastside of El Paso, Texas early this morning after a rupture in a 8-inch water main
Stimulus Spotlight
In New York, three Capital Region counties will receive $20.5 million of federal stimulus funding to build water treatment facilities or upgrade sewer systems.
Seven storm-water projects in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri will receive nearly $3.1 million combined from the recently passed economic stimulus legislation.
Sewer Rate News
Fontana, California
Granby, Massachusetts
Mount Vernon-Lisbon, Iowa
05.04.09
Monday Headlines: Water Main Break Floods Sacramento Elementary School
A water main break at an elementary school in Sacramento, California flooded the campus, parking lot, and streets Monday morning. Staff members were bringing in sandbags to protect the other classrooms in the flooded areas.
Headlines
The recent heavy rains in Owosso, Michigan have caused sewage overflows of apprximately 500,000 gallons as a result of excessive storm water runoff.
About 120,000 gallons of sewage spilled this morning in Austin, Texas after a break in a 12-inch wastewater line.
A combined sewer overflow that started April 25 in Grand Rapids, Michigan continues to affect the Grand River in Ottawa County, and the heavy rains have washed a considerable amount of sediment and contamination into the river.
Stimulus Spotlight
Two communities in Pinal County, Arizona will receive about $6.3 million in stimulus funds to complete water-related projects. Most of the funds will be distributed by the state Water Infrastructure Finance Authority, which provides low-interest loans and grants. Projects in Pinal County will create or sustain 39 jobs, according to project estimates.
Sewer Rate News
Grand Island, Nebraska
Washington County, Maryland
Wheeling, West Virginia
04.22.09
Wednesday Headlines: Water Main Break Floods Children’s Medical Center
Children’s Medical Center of Dallas was forced to turn away patients Wednesday morning as it dealt with water problems from a water main break that flooded the ground floor of the building.
Headlines
Five communities in Northwest Indiana will see more than $3.4 million in grant money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to improve their wastewater and drinking water systems.
A partial blockage in a sewer line in Duluth, Minnesota caused a sanitary sewer overflow of 4,500 gallons on Tuesday. Residents should avoid contact with any sewer overflow due to the potential for exposure to disease-causing organisms.
An intersection in Tuscon, Arizona was closed after one of the cities four water lines broke causing a very large water outage.
The Utility Service Board in the town of Chesterton, Indiana has agreed to put a $4 million bond issue on the ballot to finance an ambitious package of wastewater infrastructure projects.
Sewer Rate News
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Memphis, Tennessee
Tulsa, Oklahoma
