Telecom/Electric

CASE Announces Fourth-Annual Dire States Equipment Grant

CASE Construction Equipment has issued the call for entries for the 2019 Dire States Equipment Grant. Submissions can be made at DireStates.com/Grant. The 2019 entry deadline is March 31, 2019, and the winner will be announced in April 2019.

Call or Click for Safe Digging

Calling 811 before any digging begins starts the process of identifying and marking buried utility lines in the United States and preventing the damage, service disruption, injuries, potential fines and costly repairs that result from unintentionally hitting them.

Fiber on Fire

Deployment of fiber optic cable directly to homes in North America continues at a steady pace, surpassing DSL in 2018 to become the second-most-common connection for home internet after cable,

PCCA Looks Forward to Busy 2019

The Power & Communications Contractors Association plans to follow a productive year with a 2019 focus on advocacy, educational initiatives and programs that help its members run more successful businesses.

Return to Google Land? Public Demands Broadband Alternatives

Remember back in 2010 when Google announced its entry into the broadband network market? To much fanfare, Google Fiber was born with Kansas City serving as its first major construction project. Google’s promise to deliver true high-speed internet services (as much as a gigabyte) captured the interes..

American Augers/Trencor Launch New Website

American Augers/Trencor, a Charles Machine Works company and leading manufacturer of horizontal directional drills, auger boring machines and large-scale trenchers and surface miners, launched a newly designed website. Bringing together the two brands with the message – “Two Brands. One Commitment” ..

2018 Drilling Fluids Guide

BENTONITE Baroid Industrial Drilling Products, (281) 871-4613, baroididp.com Aquagel: Premium grade Wyoming sodium bentonite used as viscosifier and filtrate reducer in freshwater drilling fluids. Meets the requirements of API Specification 13A, Section 9. NSF/ANSI Standard 60 certified. Bore-Gel..

Rise of the Internet and Loss of the Human Touch

Robert Carpenter | Editor-in-Chief I’ve spent some frustrating times both calling companies and getting on their websites the past few years. Now, I’m getting downright infuriated – and that goes for both general markets and underground infrastructure companies. Quick, responsive customer service h..

Energy Web Atlas Launches World Pipeline Dataset

Gulf Energy Information has added the World Pipeline layer to its Energy Web Atlas (EWA), the ESRI-based GIS platform introduced earlier this year that tracks detailed data – including operators, shareholders, pipeline route and pipeline specifications – for more than 3,670 natural gas pipelines glo..

Vermeer Introduces MUD Hub Slurry Solidification System

The new Vermeer MUD Hub slurry solidification system helps control the costs, time and complexity of drilling fluid management. Using the Vermeer ST2000 slat tank and the Surface to Surface (STS) FL-243 solidification mixer, MUD Hub helps create stackable material for convenient transfer and disposa..

Challenges of Leak Detection on Produced Water, Crude Gathering Networks

Oil producers laid hundreds of miles of gathering pipelines to keep pace with the shale boom across North America from 2009 to 2017. As a result, produced water production has increased exponentially with oil and gas production. Produced water is a byproduct along with the oil and gas. Oil and gas r..

Mobile App Provides Information, Training for Contractors, Utilities

Verocomm Network has introduced a new mobile app that provides information and training content to employees in the field. The cloud-based Verocomm app is a secure, easy-to-use platform for delivering critical communications, training and safety on mobile devices, said Lawrence Martel, CEO of Aclip..

Customers Experience New Equipment, Technology at Annual Seminar

Customers worldwide traveled to the Perry, Okla., headquarters of Ditch Witch, a Charles Machine Works Company, to participate in the annual Equipment Seminar in April. More than 300 dealership employees and their customers experienced an up-close look at customer-driven equipment enhancements and n..

NineStar Connect to Acquire Gem Water Utility, Expand Fiber Service

NineStar Connect, a smart utility providing water, sewer, electric and high speed fiber services, has entered into an agreement with the town of Cumberland to acquire Gem Water Utility, which the town has owned since 2010. Gem Water serves approximately 500 water customers in a territory that lies b..

WSSC Awards Contract to Transform Sewage into Renewable Energy

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) has approved the first phase of a $250 million project that will turn poop to power by transforming sewage into renewable energy.  The $44 million contract awarded to PC Construction Company will allow WSSC to begin design and early construction of ..

Washington Port, Utility District Form Broadband Company

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) – The Port of Skagit and the Skagit Public Utility District have approved an agreement to jointly oversee the construction of a fiber optic network that extends from Anacortes to Concrete. The Skagit Valley Herald reports the port and utility district approved the agreement..

Arcadis Provides ‘Living’ Software Presentation to Assess Interceptor Condition, Risk

At the April 4 meeting of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Underground Construction Technology Association, Harrison Steed, P.E., senior project manager with Arcadis, discussed  a complex project involving Dallas Water Utilities’ wastewater collection system. Spanning more  than 230 miles of large-diam..

Del Puerto Water District Wins ACWA's 2018 Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence

The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) has awarded the 2018 Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence to the Del Puerto Water District for its North Valley Regional Recycled Water Program. The program is an innovative solution to water supply and reliability issues in the San Joa..

Monet Cable System Begins Full Operations

Algar Telecom, Angola Cables, Antel and Alphabet, Inc. have commenced operations on the Monet Cable System connecting Boca Raton, Fla. to Fortaleza and Santos, Brazil. The 556-km system, which features the latest high-quality 6-fiber-pair cable and optical transmission technologies, is capable o..

NRTC Names Bartolomei President, Utility Solutions

The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) has named Greg Bartolomei President, Utility Solutions, effective May 14. Bartolomei will lead NRTC’s portfolio of smart grid solutions, which includes metering and metering networks, analytics, demand management, smart energy (including sola..

Seaborn Adds Industry Veterans to Lead Sales and Corporate Development Teams

Seaborn Networks has appointed David Zimmer Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and Jim Olson Vice President, Corporate Development. As CSO, Zimmer will be responsible for all of Seaborn’s direct sales, channel strategies and inside sales. He has also been named to the company’s board of directors. Zimmer m..

Fiber Installation Contract Awarded for Lake Ontario Project

Crosslake Fibre has selected IT International Telecom Canada to complete the fiber installation for its Lake Ontario submarine cable project.  The 58-km system across Lake Ontario is part of a 131-km system connecting Toronto, Ontario and Buffalo, N.Y. with critical telecommunications infrastruc..

Alabama Company Gets Federal Grant to Expand Broadband

HAMILTON, Ala. (AP) — Communications company Tombigbee has received a $3 million federal grant to expand broadband internet access to a rural community in northwest Alabama, the company’s president announced Thursday. Tombigbee Communications CEO and President Steve Foshee announced the grant from ..

Urban Water Scarcity Challenge Opens to Startups

Imagine H2O has opened its 2018 Urban Water Scarcity Challenge to water startups advancing resilient drinking water solutions in fast-growing cities globally. The challenge aligns with U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), which calls for universal access to safe and affordable drinking water ..

KentuckyWired Partners with Utility to Expedite Broadband Project

The Kentucky Communications Network Authority (KCNA) and Owensboro Municipal Utilities (OMU) have reached an agreement to lease a portion of OMU’s broadband network to KentuckyWired, a broadband project that includes the construction of more than 3,000 miles of fiber optic cable across all 120 Kentu..

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission Celebrates 100 Years of Service

In celebration of its 100th year of service, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) is hosting a regional symposium, A Century of Innovation, tomorrow, May 1, at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. The symposium brings together wa..

CUIRE Study Finds CIPP Reports Non-Conclusive

Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington’s Center for Underground Infrastructure Research and Education and the Institute for Underground Infrastructure in Germany have completed a four-month study on the review of published literature pertaining to chemical emissions of styrene-based res..

Study: Californians Support Using Recycled Water

Xylem Inc. has released the results of a study indicating nearly three-quarters of Californians support using recycled water as an additional local water supply, regardless of water shortages. According to the study, although 2017 brought significant rainfall, Californians also remain very concerned..

South Dakota Mines' Gas Cube Project Holds Big Potential

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Humans create tons of waste. They demand a lot of energy too. That, in essence, is what makes a South Dakota School of Mines & Technology project to convert waste products like cardboard, discarded food and agricultural refuse into methane gas for energy generation so excit..

Vortex Companies Introduces New Manhole Rehab Coating

The Vortex Companies has introduced Chimney Guard, a custom-formulated coating consisting of 100% solids epoxies and urethane designed to improve manhole rehabilitation where inflow and infiltration is a frequent problem.  Because it requires no primer coat, Chimney Guard is easy to use for any prof..