Integrity Management
Gas Line Explosion Destroys Equipment in California Desert
BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) — Southern California authorities say nobody was hurt when a natural gas line caught fire and exploded, destroying heavy construction equipment in the western Mojave Desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The San Bernardino Sun reports (http://bit.ly/2yjriLr ) the blas..
Boise State University Sinkhole Causes Flooding, Traps Fire Truck
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Boise State University officials say a water main break caused massive flooding to stream through a main artery on the campus and trapped a fire engine inside a sinkhole. According to the university, a water main broke Monday evening near the Student Union Building. A fire engin..
Harvey Knocked out Dozens of Texas Water, Sewer Systems
DALLAS (AP) — State and federal environmental agencies report Harvey knocked out five drinking-water systems and seven sewage systems in the 58 Texas counties covered by Gov. Greg Abbott’s disaster declaration. In a joint statement issued Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tex..
Brine Spill Heightens Tribe Concern About Pipeline Material
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota American Indian tribe no longer wants fiberglass-based pipelines on its reservation after recent spills. Last month, a pipeline spilled more than 33,000 gallons of brine in a pasture on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The spill occurred on a segment of pip..
Jumpsuit Flushed Down Jail Toilet Causes Raw Sewage Flood
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey justice complex has sustained significant damage after an inmate flushed a jumpsuit down a toilet, causing the main sewer line to burst and flood the building. The incident occurred Sunday night at the Ocean County Justice Complex in Toms River. The Asbury..
'Fatberg' Found in Baltimore Sewer System After Overflow
BALTIMORE (AP) — A massive “fatberg” made up of congealed fat, wet wipes and other waste has been named as the culprit in a sewer overflow in Baltimore. The overflow discharged about 1.2 million gallons of sewage into the Jones Fall stream last week. The Baltimore Sun reported Monday that the fatb..
London Studying Ways to Reduce New Fatberg Under Chinatown
LONDON (AP) — British engineers are studying ways to dispose of yet another oversize “fatberg” threatening London’s aged sewers. Stuart White of Thames Water says the latest fat blob is located in a busy area beneath Chinatown near London’s famed Leicester Square. He said Monday it’s not causing..
Sewer Spills Add to Misery in Hurricane-Battered Florida
(AP) — As if loss of air conditioning and refrigeration weren’t bad enough, widespread power outages in hurricane-battered Florida are teaming with structural failures to cause another headache: sewage overflows. Local governments have submitted well over 100 “notices of pollution” to the state Dep..
Grand Canyon Water Pipeline Breaks Again
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) – Several locations within Grand Canyon National Park will be without water or on stored water until at least Monday while crews repair another pipeline break. Phantom Ranch will be on stored water with standard water restrictions while Cottonwood Campground a..
Massive, Slimy ‘Fatberg’ Clogging a London Sewer Weighs 143 Tons
LONDON (AP) — British engineers say they have launched a “sewer war” against a giant fat blob clogging London’s sewers, which may soon be destined for a museum. Utility company Thames Water is trying to dislodge the smelly blob, which is 820 feet long, by breaking it up with high-powered ho..
Audit Finds $58 Million in Overpayments on Mexico Highway
MEXICO CITY (AP) — An audit has found about $58 million in improper payments and contract irregularities in a highway expansion project that collapsed in central Mexico in July, killing two people. The federal comptroller’s office said contracts were improperly awarded, supervised and carried out. ..
Engineers 20 Years Ago Warned of Houston Flooding Risk
DALLAS (AP) — A report released two decades ago on the Harris County reservoir system predicted with alarming accuracy the catastrophic flooding that would besiege the Houston area if changes weren’t made in the face of rapid development. The report released in 1996 by engineers with the Harris Cou..
Texas Town Struggles to Restore Water Service in Harvey Aftermath
HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas city that lost its drinking water system to Harvey struggled Saturday to restore service, and firefighters kept monitoring a crippled chemical plant that has twice been the scene of explosions and fires since the storm roared ashore and stalled over Texas more than a week ago...
Man Plunges Into Sinkhole on Brooklyn Street
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City firefighters were called to rescue a man whose leg became trapped in a sinkhole that formed in a crosswalk. The incident happened in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn Tuesday morning. Stephen Suarez says he was returning to work after finishing a delivery when..
Board Blames Niagara Falls Sewer Spill on Heavy Rain, Aging Infrastructure
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A public agency under scrutiny for a discharge that turned water below Niagara Falls black says heavy rain and outdated infrastructure is to blame for another spill that prompted a violation notice from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The board said Friday th..
Board Cited for Another Sewage Discharge at Niagara Falls
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A public water board under scrutiny for a discharge that turned the water below Niagara Falls black and smelly violated quality standards for another discharge 17 days later, state officials said Friday. The Department of Environmental Conservation said it cited the Niagara Fall..
Niagara Falls Board Ordered to Halt Black Water Discharges
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — State officials have told a western New York public agency that it must cease the type of wastewater discharges that caused a stretch of the Niagara River below Niagara Falls to turn black and smelly. Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the Department of Environmental Conservation has..
Sewage Enters Trench Used to Repair Detroit-Area Sinkhole
FRASER, Mich. (AP) — Officials say about 1.5 million gallons of sewage flowed into a trench used to repair a sewer line that collapsed and created a sinkhole north of Detroit. The Macomb County Public Works Office says no one was in the trench at the time of the incident overnight Monday. There wer..
NTSB: Worker Urged Evacuation Before Minnesota School Blast
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A maintenance worker at a Minneapolis school that partially collapsed after an explosion earlier this month had smelled natural gas and used a radio to tell others to evacuate less than a minute before the blast, according to preliminary report released Monday by the National Tran..
Sewer Spill Into Georgia Creek Contained
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — Nearly four million gallons of raw sewage that spilled into a Georgia creek has been contained. DeKalb County officials say the spill happened last week along a tributary to Nancy Creek Basin in Brookhaven. County inspectors discovered that a 10-inch diameter pipe, comprom..
Iowa Town Agrees to $195k Sinkhole Suit Settlement
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The City Council has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman over sinkholes that formed on her Sioux City property. The Sioux City Journal reports the council voted unanimously Monday for a $195,000 settlement of Joyce Downing’s lawsuit. Downing sued the city in 20..
Popular California Beach Closed After Sewer Spill
DANA POINT, Calif. (AP) — Officials have shut down a popular Southern California beach because of elevated bacteria after 900 gallons of sewage spilled into the water. The Orange County Health Care Agency said Sunday that Baby Beach and nearby swimming docks in Dana Point are closed for at least th..
Police Investigating Natural Gas Explosion in Nebraska
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska authorities have launched an investigation into a natural gas explosion that seriously injured two people, leveled a house and significantly damaged nearly 20 other homes in Lincoln. Police are focusing on the home where authorities believe the explosion occurred Monda..
Possible 2nd Niagara Falls Water Discharge Being Probed
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — New York state officials say they’re investigating a possible wastewater discharge near Niagara Falls similar to one last month that turned the water below the world-famous attraction black and smelly. The Department of Environmental Conservation announced Tuesday evening..
Water Agency Hires Firm to Evaluate Niagara Falls Discharge
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — The public agency that was responsible for black, smelly water being discharged into water below Niagara Falls says it’s hired an engineering firm to evaluate the discharge. The Niagara Falls Water Board said in a statement released Monday that it’s retained Los Angel..
After 22 Water Breaks, Lawrence Learns of Installation Woes
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence officials have learned that 13 miles of pipeline was improperly installed after 22 water main breaks. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the breaks have occurred over a three-week period. Director of Utilities Dave Wagner says repair and replacement costs from th..
Geologists Study Massive Florida Sinkhole
LAND O’LAKES, Fla. (AP) — Geologists are studying a massive Florida sinkhole that destroyed two homes and rendered five others uninhabitable. Experts might ever know exactly what caused Pasco County’s largest sinkhole in decades, but a team of University of South Florida researchers have descende..
Man Falls into 10-foot Sinkhole While Trying to Block it off
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia man who fell into a sinkhole says he was putting traffic cones around it because he was worried about the safety of children playing outside. Eugene Clark tells WCAU-TV (http://bit.ly/2wJ1NiG) he was near the sinkhole Saturday night when the asphalt gave way and h..
Mexico Experts: Outdated Drain Caused July's Deadly Sinkhole
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A panel of experts in Mexico has determined that an old drainage pipe was to blame for a sinkhole on a major highway that killed two men last month when their car plunged into it. The 34-year-old drain was not replaced as suggested before an expanded highway was built on top of i..
Local Lawmakers: Probe Niagara Falls Black Water Discharge
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — Local lawmakers are asking for a criminal investigation into the discharge of wastewater that turned the water below Niagara Falls black. The Niagara County Legislature passed resolutions Thursday night that request investigations by the New York state attorney general, t..
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- Lynchburg, Va., breaks ground on largest-ever Blackwater CSO tunnel project
- Texas A&M weighs underground transit plan with Elon Musk's Boring Co. to reduce campus traffic
- Wyo-Ben’s Max Gel, Max Bore HDD system boost drilling efficiency, performance
- Colorado's Wolf Creek Pass tunnel drainage project begins
- Wisconsin proposes new PFAS drinking water standards to align with federal rules
- Elgin, Ill., joins EPA drinking water initiative to accelerate lead pipe replacement
- Dog River pipeline replacement in Oregon improves water supply with new HDPE pipe
- Leaking wastewater systems named top source of San Diego River contamination, study finds
- New Portable Welding System From Miller