Sewer
Downhole Directional Drilling Tools: Equipment Spotlight
Downhole tools from Ballantine, Vermeer, American Augers, Armadrillco, Melfred Borzall, INROCK, Railhead Underground Products, Sharewell, HammerHead Trenchless Equipment, Ditch Witch and Drillhead Directional.
Underwater Sewer Pipe Inspection
In 2011, Interactive Pipe Inspection (IPI) completed inspection of more than 50,000 feet of 30- and 48-inch diameter sanitary sewer lines for King County, WA. What sets the project apart from routine pipeline inspections is that the sewer lines were underwater in Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish.
Indy’s Water/Sewer Ownership Shift Proceeds Smoothly
It’s been more than six months since operation and ownership of water and sanitary sewer services in Indianapolis transferred from the city to a non-profit charitable trust, but most residential and commercial customers likely have experienced no difference in the day-to-day operation of these services.
Wichita gets grant for storm sewer project
EPA has awarded $123,000 to the city of Wichita, KS, for improvements to its storm sewer system. The project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2012.
U.S. Clean Water Act settlement in Chicago to reduce sewage overflows
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the state of Illinois announced a Clean Water Act (CWA) settlement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) to resolve claims that untreated sewer discharges were released into Chicago area waterways during flood and wet weather events.
Fingers Crossed: 15th Annual Municipal Survey
After several years of the Great Recession, America’s underground infrastructure – already stretched thin before the economic crash – is rapidly approaching crisis levels, say city respondents to the 15th Annual Underground Construction Municipal Sewer & Water Survey. However, a majority of the survey participants believe that their city’s financial woes bottomed out in 2011 and anticipate the beginning of a slow turnaround late in 2012.
Surviving An Exceptional Funding Drought
As last summer’s drought conditions wore on, I learned that there is a condition even worse than “extreme.” There is an “exceptional” drought category, which essentially means “pending devastation if you don’t get rain fast.” The impact of this drought, when finally broken, will be felt for years.
Rule Changes, Proposals Could Prove Significant For 2012 Underground Market
The One-Call and excavation damage provisions included in the new pipeline safety bill passed by Congress in December will trigger a number of state and federal responses in 2012. However, a rule allowing the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to impose civil penalties on excavators -- ordered by the 2006 pipeline safety bill but never finalized -- would be even more significant. A proposed rule moving that requirement forward is expected this year, finally, perhaps as early as this winter.
Conference of Mayors touts local government efforts to spur broadband
The U.S. Conference of Mayors with other national associations has filed joint Reply Comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), stating that local wireless citing and right-of-way management and compensation practices are not delaying broadband deployment.
Upgrade water system, create nearly 1.9 million jobs
Want to create nearly 1.9 million American jobs and add $265 billion to the economy? Upgrade our water and wastewater infrastructure. That’s the message of a new report released by Green For All, in partnership with American Rivers, the Economic Policy Institute and the Pacific Institute. The Rockefeller Foundation generously provided funding for the project.
Design Approach, Inspection For Manhole Rehabilitation Technologies
The design of manhole coating and lining systems must take into consideration a number of conditions in the manhole, both as a whole and as individual components. When evaluating the nature of the coating or lining that will work best, a number of conditions should be defined.
Houston Approved For Wastewater Systems Upgrades
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has approved a $49.9 million loan from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to the city of Houston (Harris County) to finance wastewater system improvements.
St. Louis To Pay $4.7B For Sewer Upgrades
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) signed a consent decree on Aug. 5 with regulators and environmentalists to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems and treatment plants, at an estimated cost of $4.7 billion over 23 years.
What Is Necessary For Manhole Rehabilitation Success? Correct Application, Use Of Manhole Rehab Technologies
Manholes consist of multiple components and are made of different materials, each serving a different purpose but contributing to the complete manhole structure. Each component typically has its own set of defects and deterioration mechanisms.
Atlanta gets A1 rating on water/wastewater bonds
Moody's Investors Service, one of the world’s leading credit rating agencies, affirmed in July Atlanta, GA’s A1 rating on the city’s $3.2 billion water and wastewater revenue bonds.
Jersey City to upgrade sewer system
The Jersey City, NJ, Municipal Utilities Authority (JCMUA) will spend more than $52 million on sewer repairs and upgrades and pay a civil penalty of $375,000 after repeated violations of the Clean Water Act, according to a settlement with the federal government.
County approves wastewater tunnel
On July 14, the Johnson County, KS, Board of Commissioners authorized construction of an underground effluent pipe between the treatment plant to a discharge point on the river.
Jefferson County seeks better deal to settle debt
In an effort to avoid filing the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, officials in Alabama’s Jefferson County extended until mid-September talks with creditors holding $3.14 billion in debt incurred after officials borrowed money to fix their troubled sewer system and then entered into a number of complicated and corruption-laced refinancing deals that backfired in 2007 with the mortgage lending crisis. Those schemes also resulted in the conviction of a number of local officials and businessmen.
Fighting City Hall
Extreme economic hardships for many municipalities are pushing some cities to consider extreme actions – such as the rarely occurring municipal bankruptcy. Consider the case of Birmingham/Jefferson County, AL.
Northeast Ohio regional sewer plan approved
In an effort to clean up Lake Erie that began with the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, U.S. District Court Judge Donald C. Nugent has approved a 25-year regional sewer district plan to reduce the amount of untreated waste that is dumped into local waterways, usually during flooding.
Public-private solutions proposed to repair decaying water infrastructure
In the keynote address to the 2011 Pennsylvania Infrastructure Summit, Pennsylvania American Water President Kathy L. Pape said recently that expecting government bailouts is not a realistic, long-term solution to fix aging water and wastewater systems, which require tens of billions of dollars of capital investment.
Los Angeles Passes 1 Million Feet Of Trenchless Rehab
The city of Los Angeles, CA, recently completed 1 million feet of sewer that has been constructed or rehabilitated using trenchless technologies.
13th Annual Directional Drilling Survey: Mixed Market Recovery For HDD
While the overall market recovery for horizontal directional drilling appears to be improving at the mid-year point of 2011, many contractors are still struggling with sluggish economic conditions.
Tight Urban Directional Drilling
CenterPoint Energy Inc., Houston, TX, is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission and distribution, natural gas distribution, competitive natural gas sales and services, interstate pipelines and field services operations. It serves more than five million metered electric and natural gas customers in six states: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
Cities, counties getting funds for stormwater-control projects
The U.S. State Department of Ecology has announced the list of 43 cities and counties in the state of Washington that will get a share of $23.4 million to plan, design and build stormwater retrofit and low-impact development facility projects.
New guide helps municipalities monetize the value of green infrastructure
Quantifying the economic value of green infrastructure's benefits is the key to helping municipalities adopt this innovative and cost-effective stormwater management approach, according to a new report by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) and American Rivers.
Equipment Spotlight: Downhole Directional Drilling Tools
Downhole directional tools from Railhead, Sharewell, INROCK, Melfred Borzall, American Augers, Horizontal Technology, HammerHead, Vermeer, Ballantine and Ditch Witch.
Rapid Response Minimizes Pipe Failure at Encina Wastewater Treatment Plant
A sewage spill is a disaster that no city wants to experience, but as America’s wastewater infrastructure ages, these types of accidents will be occurring more frequently. The city of Carlsbad, CA, recently had the opportunity to test their preparedness for such a situation.
Baby Steps: 14th Annual Municipal Survey
After more than two years of declining revenues, tightening budgets and helplessly watching from the sidelines as their sewer and water infrastructure continues to decay and they are increasingly struggling to maintain current service levels, U.S. municipal personnel are hoping to experience at least a minor measure of improvement in 2011.
BC Hydro to upgrade Vancouver system
BC Hydro began construction in November 2010 on a $200-million transmission system for Vancouver’s central neighborhood, making its first significant investment in the city’s power grid in 30 years. The project includes boring a tunnel under False Creek and building a new substation in Mount Pleasant.
- Tunnel boring machine ‘Clack-A-Mole’ nears one-third completion in Oregon outfall project
- Texas A&M weighs underground transit plan with Elon Musk's Boring Co. to reduce campus traffic
- Lynchburg, Va., breaks ground on largest-ever Blackwater CSO tunnel project
- Wyo-Ben’s Max Gel, Max Bore HDD system boost drilling efficiency, performance
- Federal court halts permits for 32-mile Tennessee gas pipeline project
- 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