Water
Editor's Log: The Right Candidate
by Robert Carpenter Editor-in-Chief Waving a wallet in front of a desperate, starving man without any intent of opening up that wallet and sharing money is a very cruel action. But as the United States presidential primaries kick into full swing, candidates are displaying a similar tendency. Some ..
Underground Construction 19th Annual Municipal Survey
Show Me The Money: Post Great-Recession, City Budgets Are Increasing But Not Nearly Enough according to our 19th Annual Municipal Survey. In 2015, more than half of the municipalities across the United States got a rare taste of what has become an exotic, opiate-like substance – and they liked it...
Feds Funnel More Money to Eastern New Mexico Pipeline
CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) – The federal government is funneling another $2 million toward a pipeline project aimed at bringing billions of gallons of water a year to parts of eastern New Mexico. Members of the state’s congressional delegation announced the funding from the Bureau of Reclamation on Tuesday...
CNX Awarded Fiber Broadband Development Contract In Kentucky
Warren County Fiscal Court awarded Connected Nation Exchange (CNX) a contract for fiber broadband development on behalf of Warren County, KY in the advancement of the county’s goal to provide fiber-based broadband services throughout the county. CNX will develop technical and financial models in an..
Rapid Set Products for Keyhole Utility Repairs from Buzzi Unicem
Buzzi Unicem USA manufactures Calcium Sulphoaluminate Cement used in their keyhole products. Ulti-Grout is used for core reinstatement, Ulti-Pave3 is for unusable cores and Utility-Fill One Step, a fast setting, self-compacting backfill material. All three materials are used for small-hole technolog..
$5 Million Awarded To Resolve Critical Water Needs at San Antonio Military Base
The Texas Military Preparedness Commission (TMPC) voted to grant $5 million to help resolve critical water needs aboard Joint Base San Antonio, TX (JBSA), under the command of United States Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert D. LaBrutta, Commander. The additional support in vital resources will ensure San ..
Plan Could Divert Funds to Help Fund Lake Powell Pipeline
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A proposal in the Utah Legislature would greenlight the transfer of nearly $500 million dollars from transportation projects to water projects in a move that could funnel money to the proposed Lake Powell pipeline. The Utah Senate approved the measure on a 19-10 vote Friday, a..
Bobcat, Doosan and NDSU Dedicate New STEM Classroom, Lab Building
Bobcat Company and Doosan joined North Dakota State University (NDSU) to dedicate its new STEM Classroom and Lab Building, which will support studies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The cross-functional design of the facility — which officially opened to students in January — b..
Fitch’s Ratings Projection For Municipal Water, Sewer Utility Sectors
According to Fitch’s Ratings 2016 outlook report, U.S. municipal water, sewer utility sectors are facing increased pressure to the bottom line due to rising costs and lower sales. Despite the trials, Fitch’s Ratings and Sector Outlooks for municipal water and sewer utilities are stable. The sector i..
Contractor Bore Salvages Water Line
Pending Loss Of Community Water Supply Prompts Missouri Contractor’s Fast Action Construction in Lathrop, MO, specializes in water main projects and contracts. In fact, about one-third of the company’s business is dedicated to maintaining more than 20 different municipal water systems across northw..
House panel calls governor, EPA chief to testify on Flint
WASHINGTON (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said Friday he has agreed to testify to Congress about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, bowing to demands by Democrats that the Republican governor explain his role in a cost-cutting move that resulted in a public health emergency caused by lead-contam..
Telematics Comes To HDD
Telematics Technology Aids Crews In Operating More Efficiently, Productively Josh Alkire always understood that, on the typical utility installation, his crew’s horizontal directional drill spent a decent amount of time idling. After all, it’s not nonstop boring on a job. But it wasn’t until he sa..
When Emergency Strikes: Pennsylvania American Water Launches New Rapid Notification System to Reach Customers
HERSHEY, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pennsylvania American Water announced today the deployment of a new high-speed notification system, called “CodeRED,” to quickly alert customers when water emergencies occur. The system enables residents to be contacted via phone, text and email, depending on their per..
House Backs Bill to Require EPA Notification in Lead Cases
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday approved legislation to clarify the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to notify the public about danger from lead in their drinking water — the first action by Congress to respond to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. The bill, approved 416-2, wo..
Michigan Governor Plans $360M for Flint, Infrastructure
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday proposed spending hundreds of millions more dollars to address Flint’s water crisis and to update infrastructure, including lead water pipes, in the city and across the state. The $195 million for Flint and $165 million for statewide infr..
LMK Hydro Hat Withstands Patent Reviews
LMK Technologies prevailed on petitions filed by BLD Services on patent claims surrounding LMK’s commercial embodiments for the Insignia Seal, specifically, claims covering the Hydro Hat remain 100% intact and valid following multiple challenges to LMK’s patent claims by BLD. The Patent Trial and A..
West Houston Water Pipeline Expansion
Between 2015 and 2019, the West Harris County Regional Water Authority (WHCRWA) plans to allocate $1.13 billion in bond funding toward the completion of West Houston water pipeline expansion projects, aimed to help the authority reach surface water usage goals mandated by the Harris-Galveston Subsid..
Trenchless Technology Comes To Barbados
Two methods of trenchless construction are being employed in a project to improve the water infrastructure on the island nation of Barbados. Using trenchless methods on this segment of the project allows aging water mains to be replaced while greatly limiting the amount of excavation needed to bury ..
January 2016 Newsline
Latest Industry Developments S&N Partners With Bechtel To Build Fiber Optic Networks S&N Communications, a U.S. provider of construction and maintenance services for telecom, cable and utility companies, finalized a partnership with Bechtel, an engineering, construction and project management co..
Aegion Agrees to Acquire Underground Solutions, Inc.
Aegion has executed a definitive agreement to acquire Underground Solutions, Inc. for $85 million in cash and expects to close the transaction during the first quarter of 2016. The Company will separately pay for the discounted value of tax benefits (estimated today to be approximately $5 million) a..
Atlanta's Jo Ann Macrina UCT 2016 Keynote Speaker
UCT is pleased to welcome Jo Ann Macrina, Commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management for the City of Atlanta, as the speaker for our 2016 keynote session. Appointed by Mayor Kasim Reed in April 2011, Macrina is committed to providing quality drinking water; protecting and improving Atlan..
The Thrills! The Chills! Ten Underground Infrastructure Stories From 2015
by Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Art Director As 2015 quickly moves into history, let’s take a look back at the thrilling days of yesteryear and some of the underground infrastructure stories that peppered the pages of UC in 2015. There were awards given and records broken and lumps of rock and the loss o..
TTC Auger Boring School
Inaugural TTC Auger Boring School Impresses Attendees The Trenchless Technology Center’s 2015 Auger Boring School received favorable reviews from participants in the week-long training program completed in mid-October. Sponsors included American Augers, Baroid Industrial Drilling Products, Barbco,..
Irrigation District Tackles System Update
In the United States, an irrigation district is a cooperative, self-governing public corporation set up as a subdivision of the state government, with definite geographic boundaries, organized and having taxing power to obtain and distribute water for irrigation of lands within the district. It is c..
Ditch Witch founder dies
The utility construction industry lost a giant with the Dec. 11 death of Ed Malzahn, chairman of the Charles Machine Works Inc. (CMW). Malzahn’s invention of a compact trenching machine paved the way for changes in the way essential utility services are delivered to customers. Malzahn, 94, died i..
Alaskan Villages Still Without Plumbing Infrastructure
Despite more than $2 billion in federal and state funding over the past 50 years to provide for essentials such as running water, residents in at least 30 secluded Alaskan villages live without basic plumbing infrastructure. With the State of Alaska facing tightening budgets, traditional piped wate..
B&T Drainage Wins Vermeer Ultimate Crew Contest
B&T Drainage of Marshall, IL, proved themselves as the ultimate drilling crew at the 2015 International Construction and Utility and Equipment Exposition (ICUEE) in Louisville, KY, beating out three other crew competitors and winning the use of a Vermeer D24x40 S3 Navigator HDD for the span of one y..
Green technology emerges for stormwater management
A new green technology has shown great potential for stormwater management – research efforts have shown potential for the use of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) to remove nutrients and contaminants from stormwater retention ponds. FTWs float on the surface of wet ponds and provide a growing med..
Melfred Borzall FastBack
Melfred Borzall’s one-of-a-kind patent-pending FastBackTM system is changing the way contractors handle HDD boring. FastBackTM is Borzall’s new system for direct pullbacks without removing the drill head or installing a backreamer. This unique system includes the FastReamTM housing – used in place ..
Choose the right tool for the job
Total-solution HammerHead®/RS Lining Systems collaboration keeps pace with rapidly evolving noninvasive techniques Today’s pipe repair specialists can take a lesson from Maslow’s “law of the hammer,” revising it slightly to make a similar point: “To the contractor with a sledge, every bid includes ..
- 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
- Cadiz to reuse steel from terminated Keystone XL pipeline for California groundwater project
- Wisconsin proposes new PFAS drinking water standards to align with federal rules
- 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
- Excavator Causes Puerto Rico Power Outage