06.08.09
Monday’s Water News: Water Main Break Disrupts Service to Half of City in Vermont
Public works crews in Barre, Vermont continue emergency repairs on a water main break that has left thousands without water. A dispatcher in the city’s emergency services center estimated more than half the city was without water.
Headlines
People in Georgetown, Minnesota were without water most of Monday after a water main break forced the town to shut off its water.
Concerns over raw sewage in the water closed the beach at Coney Island and Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn on Saturday.
Stimulus Spotlight
Several Illinois communities will receive over $10 million in total for water projects funded from the economic stimulus package.
In South Dakota, the Fall River Water Users District has received $612,000 in federal stimulus money toward completing its pipeline to the Buffalo Gap area that will provide water to over 70 customers in the water district.
Sewer Rate News
Elkton, Virginia
Orange County, North Carolina
Prescott Valley, Arizona
06.02.09
Tuesday’s Water News: Hartford to Start Massive Sewer Project
The largest public works project in Hartford, Connecticut history has started which will redo part of the city’s century-old sewer system. The first leg of the 15-year, $2 billion project will separate sewage from storm water in metro Hartford and reduce the frequency of sewer overflows from once a week to once a year.
Headlines
In Florida, St. Augustine city officials on Monday located a 19-inch-long, 6-inch-wide gash in a submerged 1960s-era pipe that caused hundreds of gallons of raw sewage to bubble up into Oyster Creek over the weekend.
The town of Cape Elizabeth, Maine has reached an agreement to fix sewer overflows at one of its pump stations which could cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A water main break has left an estimated 300 customers without water and restricted traffic in the east part of Mesa, Arizona.
Stimulus Spotlight
Vermont’s congressional delegation has announced $39 million in federal economic stimulus funds for drinking water and wastewater projects throughout the state.
Sewer Rate News
Bad Axe, Michigan
Crystal Lake, Illinois
Sioux City, Iowa
Waterloo, Iowa
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
05.26.09
Tuesday’s Water News: Momentum Grows to Stop Sewer Overflows into Saginaw River
In Michigan, momentum is growing to stop sewage overflows into the Saginaw River although many cities are operating within their federal discharge permits.
Headlines
The Indiana Department of Environmental Managementhas issued a construction permit to the city of Muncie for improvements to a local life station.
County Health officials say rain pushed more than 30,000 gallonsof raw sewage into the streets of Bayou la Batre, Louisiana over the Memorial Day weekend.
On Friday, a water main break in Sandy, Utah sent water and rocks flying through the air.
Stimulus Spotlight
Water and sewer projects in Vermont will tap into $40 million in federal stimulus funding this year for needed system upgrades. The money, awarded as low-interest loans, will jump-start about 80 shovel-ready projects statewide.
Sewer Rate News
Long Beach, California
Marion, Ohio
Mason, West Virginia
Santa Clarita, California
03.26.09
Thursday Headlines: St. Louis Proposes $2 Billion Sewer System Upgrade
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, the nation’s fourth largest sewer system, has proposed a $2 billion sewer improvement project to last several decades aimed at correcting the city’s sewer overflow problem. It’s the largest public infrastructure improvement in the region’s history. Customers would pay for most of the improvements through increased sewer rates.
Headlines
In California, arguments between urban and rural water districts may slow down how fast the $280 million in wastewater infrastructure from the economic stimulus can be used for projects. At the heart of the argument, urban lawmakers have taken exception with guidelines for projects that they believe benefit poor rural areas but keep poor areas of large cities from getting any funding. The state legislature is working on amending the rules to allow urban water districts to apply for grant funding that rural water districts are already eligible to receive.
State and local officials in Vermont are trying to figure out which communities will benefit from millions in federal stimulus money for drinking water and sewer projects.
A 20-inch sewer line in a Tampa, Florida neighborhood has broken for the third time since September. City officials say they won’t know how much sewage flowed into a nearby creek until tests are completed.
Fort Madison, Iowa, a small city in the southeastern part of the state, has reached an agreement with the EPA to implement a plan addressing combined sewer overflows into the Mississippi River.
Sewer Rate News
Del Mar, California
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Waukee, Iowa
03.25.09
Wednesday Headlines: Stimulus Funds Likely for Projects in Portsmouth, N.H.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire has received preliminary approval for $7.2 million in funding through the federal economic stimulus package for two infrastructure projects. The two projects expected to receive money are a continuation of a sewer separation project and replacement of a water treatment plant.
Headlines
Some Mayors in the state of Vermont are unhappy over which drinking water and wastewater projects are being funded with funds from the economic stimulus bill.
Alabama Governor Bob Riley has formally asked the White House to guarantee Jefferson County’s bonds as part of a debt-restructuring plan to solve the $3.9 billion sewer debt crisis.
According to the local utilities department in Charlotte, North Carolina, about 182,000 of partially-treated sewage spilled into a local creek on Saturday.
Classes at Cheyney Univerity in Pennsylvania were cancelled today and the campus was closed after a water main break today. The break prevented anyone on campus from drinking water from the tap or using it for bathing.
Sewer Rate News
Cape Charles, Virginia
Fairhope, Alabama
Huntington, West Virginia
Norwich, Connecticut
02.13.09
Friday Headlines: Congress Passes Stimulus, Awaits President’s Signature
Today, the House passed the economic stimulus conference report that contains billions of dollars in investment for water and wastewater infrastructure by a vote of 264-183. The Senate is expected to pass the conference report late this evening. Once passed, President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.
Headlines
In Burlington, Vermont, combined sewer overflows are believed to be the cause of a variety of man-made chemicals that have been found in the streams and waterways that discharge into Lake Champlain.
WTVF-TV in Nashville reports on the decay of the city’s sewer system. Mayor Karl Dean has proposed a sewer rate increase to pay for infrastructure upgrades needed to comply with federal mandates.
People in Ogden, Utah have quite a mess to clean up after an 18-inch water main broke last night as the water turned to ice which coated the trees and buildings. At one point water shot as high as 50 feet into the air.
A water main break in Bay Park, California has caused the closure of a school for a fifth time. The frequent water main breaks are frustrating school officials which last closed school in December because the same water main broke.
Sewer Rate News
Amherst, Massachusetts
Southington, Connecticut
01.05.09
Monday Headlines: Op-ed Says Water Infrastructure Investment Needed
The President of the American Rivers wrote an op-ed yesterday discussing the recent water main break in Maryland the need to invest America’s water infrastructure. Below is an excerpt that appeared in yesterday’s Washington Post.
It is time to bring our water infrastructure into the 21st century. The economic stimulus efforts being considered by President-elect Barack Obama and Congress provide an excellent opportunity to make the water infrastructure investments that Montgomery County and other communities around the country so desperately need. Not only will these investments create good jobs that can’t be moved offshore, but they also are necessary to protect public health, safety and national security.
It is essential that we not only invest more but invest more wisely, too. Our first priority must be to provide essential repair and maintenance to our existing water infrastructure. This “fix it first” philosophy will help ensure that disasters such as the River Road water main break don’t happen again and that dams such as the one at Lake Needwood don’t fail. Of course, we should fix only those things that will continue to be useful and most effective for meeting society’s needs.
Headlines
A summary of needs compiled by the New York State Facilities Corp. shows that Westchester County could receive almost $148 million for sewage-treatment upgrades and improvements if the money is included in the federal stimulus package under consideration by Congress.
A medical center building in La Crosse, Wisconsin was flooded by a weekend water main break and will be closed today as cleanup continues.
A water main break yesterday left parts of Meriden, Connecticut without water service. As many as 50 homes were impacted right now and there were also reports of discolored water.
A construction crew replaced a leaky valve in the old water main on Main Street in Castleton, Vermont over the weekend, cutting off water at a local diner, some homes and two other businesses Saturday afternoon for a few hours.
Sewer Rate News
Altoona, Iowa
Arma, Pennsylvania
Binghamton, New York
Lebanon, Tennessee
12.12.08
Friday Headlines: After Spending $6 Million Town Still Out of Compliance
Springfield, Vermont is being fined $25,000 by the state for failing to completely separate its stormwater drainage system from its sewage system despite more than $6 million spent by the town in recent years to fix the problem.
Headlines
Years of deferred maintenance on its wastewater infrastructure has left Framingham, Massachusetts with a costly predicament: fix the infrastructure or face state fines. During the period between 2004 and spring 2007, sewage overflowed more than 50 times in the town.
In California, the Santa Margarita Water District was fined $133,190 Wednesday for two sewage line breaks that occurred in 2007 and spilled more than 800,000 gallons of raw sewage.
With state and federal mandates requiring Wapakoneta, Ohio to eliminate raw sewage entering natural waterways, an engineering firm presented the city six different proposals to fix the problem with estimates ranging from $20.7 million to $32.7 million.
Officials in Cathedral City, California are looking into obtaining a $40 million loan from the California Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund to help with the city’s water infrastructure.
Sewer Rate News
North Royalton, Ohio
Sunbury, Ohio
11.21.08
Friday Headlines: Town in Maine Looks to Repair Water Main Under I-95
Looking to repair a water main break under Interstate 95, the Board of Selectmen in Seabrook, Maine are considering replacing the main using directional drilling technology to pull a new pipe through a bore hole. The 12-inch, 350-foot water main remains shut off after it broke in two places in November 2007 and the cost of repair is estimated at $235,700.
Headlines
Town officials in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania are busily trying to figure out how to pay for $1.4 million in state mandated sewer work. The sewer work includes dredging sludge out of lagoons at the treatment plant, correcting combined sewer overflow problems and installing flow meters.
Customers of the Grand Rapids, Michigan water and sewer systems will face big rate increases next year, thanks to expansive upgrades and the defection of five suburbs from its sewer system. The average city resident will get a quarterly water and sewer bill of $168.10, an 8.2 percent jump over this year.
A broken water main in Chester, Vermont left some residents without water last night and forced the closure of a local high school for today.
For more than a week, the left lane of a key San Francisco artery has been closed by orange cones and sawhorses. The sinkhole, formed because of a broken sewer main, needs major repair. and patching the hole is in advisable because the hole might return and cause serious damage to a vehicle.
Sewer Rate News
Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Coldwater, Michigan
El Dorado, Arkansas
Sayre Borough, Pennsylvania
