Damage Prevention & Safety
Underground gas leak unlikely cause of fatal Pennsylvania house blast
It is unlikely that natural gas seeped from an abandoned underground mine and caused a house explosion in western Pennsylvania last weekend that killed six people, state officials said Friday.
Maui water deemed unsafe post-fire, filters ineffective in addressing contamination
The Maui fires damaged hundreds of drinking water pipes, resulting in a loss of pressure that can allow toxic chemicals along with metals and bacteria into water lines.
Common Ground Alliance opens Call for Proposals for underground utilities conference
The 2024 CGA Conference & Expo, set to take place April 14-18, 2024, in Colorado Springs, Colo., is the damage prevention industry’s premier event, bringing together distinguished experts and decision-makers for a week of focused collaboration and innovation designed to address the industry’s most pressing challenges.
California company fined $5 million for illegally dumping wastewater in Mississippi
View Inc., a firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, previously pleaded guilty to negligently discharging wastewater into a city sewer system from the company’s sole manufacturing facility in Olive Branch, Mississippi.
Three people found dead in Texas underground tank, sewer gas suspected as cause
On Thursday, a Texas sheriff reported that the underground tank had a "high level" of hydrogen sulfide when announcing that three individuals from Florida died in the cistern filled with sewer gas.
Utilities reduce underground infrastructure damage by promoting National 811 Day
Friday, Aug. 11, is recognized as National 811 Day, to raise awareness of the importance of making a free call to 811 before any digging project, large or small.
Editor’s Log: Priceless - Safety and damage prevention
(UI) — After attending and helping produce countless trade shows, workshops and related educational functions over the decades, I’ve learned that many of the best sessions were not the most popular sessions – not by a long shot. It’s not always what you want to hear, but what you need to know that has the most impact on your business or job.
6 days after fuel spill reported, most in Tennessee city still can’t drink the tap water
Many of the 40,000 people who live and work in the Memphis suburb of Germantown remained under an order Wednesday to avoid using water for everything except flushing toilets. They can't drink or boil tap water, or use it for showering or bathing.
Residents of Tennessee city ordered to avoid using tap water after fuel spill
Residents of a Tennessee city must keep avoiding using their tap water after diesel fuel being used to power a generator at a treatment plant leaked into a reservoir, officials said Friday.
Arlington, Texas, adopts advanced solutions for detecting buried lead service lines and water leaks
(UI) — The Arlington Water Utilities in Texas have selected Electro Scan Inc. to deploy its non-acoustic SWORDFISH Buried Lead Pipe Detection solution and TRIDENT Pressurized Leak Detection solution across the city.
Federal investigators find leaking natural gas pipe fitting at site of Pa. factory explosion that killed seven
The older fitting had a known tendency to crack, and it was added to a federal government list of pipe materials with “poor performance histories” in 2007, the safety board said. But it was left in place during utility work two years ago and remained connected to the natural gas system.
Mountain Valley urges US Supreme Court to lift stays and resume pipeline construction
(UI) — Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC has submitted a request to the U.S. Supreme Court to lift stays issued by a federal court that had stopped work on a section of its West Virginia-to-Virginia natural gas pipeline.
Recent underground power line explosions in San Francisco raise concerns, safety assurances remain
(UI) — A San Francisco neighborhood has experienced significant problems as a result of an underground explosion and subsequent fire for at least the second time in less than three months.
Residents in Burlington, Vt., urged to conserve water after sewer pipe ruptures
(UI) — As crews get ready to mend a damaged pipe in the Winooski River, the city of Burlington is advising homeowners in a significant portion of the New North End to decrease the amount of water and garbage they discharge into the sewage system.
United Rentals outlines how hybrid power solutions create efficient, sustainable worksites
United Rentals released a white paper, “Hybrid Power Solutions: The Future of Portable Power,” that explores strategies for pairing a BESS with a power generator.
Cities prioritize water main replacement, neglecting buried lead pipes
Around the country, utilities have been leaving lead pipe in the ground even when it is easiest to remove during water main work. Worse, they have been removing sections, disturbing the pipe and leaving the rest, which can spike lead levels, causing harm that will last a lifetime, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.
Flint contractor agrees to settlement of lead contamination lawsuits
Flint families sued LAN and another contractor, Veolia North America, accusing them of not doing enough to get Flint to treat highly corrosive water or to urge a return to a regional water supplier.
OSHA cites Chicago company for 2022 trench collapse that killed one worker
Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors determined the employer, Rooter Solutions Inc. of Burr Ridge, failed to install cave-in protection in the trench and did not require head protection, the agency announced Friday.
Sewer main failure causes water contamination in Georgia’s One-Mile Branch Creek
(UI) — The Utilities Department was able to detect a failure in an eight-inch sanitary sewage main after a thorough investigation and video inspections.
The water in Mississippi’s capital is safe to drink, city officials say
Jackson has struggled with water problems for decades. Most of the city lost running water for several days in August and September after heavy rainfall exacerbated problems at the city’s main water treatment plant.
Missouri's Dogtown sinkhole traced to collapsed sewer pipe, not water main break
(UI) — The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District has determined that the large sinkhole in Dogtown was not caused by a water main break, as previously believed, but rather by a collapsed sewer pipe.
Firefighting foam contaminates public water system for about 9,000 in Maine
Firefighting foam used in battling a fatal fire in an apartment building entered the public water system, prompting the water district to order thousands of residents not to drink the water.
Consultants: Design issues, operations lapses led to big Keystone pipeline oil spill
Pipeline design issues, lapses by its operators and problems caused during its construction led to a massive oil spill on the Keystone pipeline system in northeastern Kansas, according to a report for U.S. government regulators.
Authorities assess damage after sidewalk sinkhole on New Mexico bridge; 2 pedestrians rescued
Authorities on Sunday were assessing the damage after a sidewalk sinkhole developed on a New Mexico bridge, resulting in the rescue of two pedestrians. Los Lunas police said the city’s Main Street bridge over the Rio Grande remained closed due to the sinkhole under a sidewalk on the east side of the bridge.
California officials begin construction to restore water infrastructure damaged by fire
(UI) — As a first step in repairing its Peavine Raw Water Pipeline, which was destroyed by the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fire almost three years ago, the district has hired a contractor to start evaluating, cataloging, and eventually removing problematic trees.
Researchers develop safety monitoring system for construction sites
(UI) — University of Houston computer scientists have developed a new system to keep construction workers safe at job sites. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 4,764 workers died on the job in 2020. Employees in construction and extraction occupations accounted for 20% of those deaths.
Teledyne FLIR debuts new optical gas imaging cameras for leak detection and repair professionals
The G-Series is designed to empower everyday users in the oil and gas and utility industries to spend more time prioritizing leak repairs, and less time documenting them while gaining better insight into the severity of the emission.
Common Ground Alliance: 55% of underground utility damage caused by professional contractors
The most common root cause of these damages was “no notification made to the 811 center,” meaning the damage could have been avoided if excavators contacted 811 to have utility lines marked prior to breaking ground.
Broken water pipe in Jackson, Miss., leaks 5 million gallons per day
(UI) — The leak at the old Colonial Country Club in Jackson, Miss., wasted an estimated 5 million gallons of drinking water daily in a community that had none to spare, forcing citizens to boil their tap water and businesses to close because their faucets were dry.
ULC Technologies launches robotic system for underground utility damage prevention
The semi-autonomous robotic platform utilizes a sensor suite comprised of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic sensors to detect and mark out below ground infrastructure.
- Tunnel boring machine ‘Clack-A-Mole’ nears one-third completion in Oregon outfall project
- Explosion in underground PG&E vault leaves one dead in Richmond, Calif.
- Tennessee pipeline gets initial FERC approval despite environmental concerns
- Sinkhole in Texas town accrues over $800,000 in sewer rehabilitation costs
- Water and Sewer Damage Awareness Week highlights infrastructure challenges
- Wisconsin proposes new PFAS drinking water standards to align with federal rules
- Elgin, Ill., joins EPA drinking water initiative to accelerate lead pipe replacement
- GasTracker Accurately Locates Plastic Gas Pipes
- Union County, Ga., breaks ground on $20.5 million fiber broadband expansion project
- TDEC unveils $191.2 million water infrastructure investment across Tennessee