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May 21--DECATUR -- An energy audit of the city's infrastructure found that a $16.8 million investment could yield $24 million in savings over the next 17 years, the Decatur City Council was told Monday.Johnson Controls, the company chosen to evaluate the city's infrastructure and recommend improvements that would pay for themselves, provided a report to the council during a study session following the meeting. Its major recommendation was to update the city's water meter system, a roughly $14.5 million project that would replace about 22,000 meters and update them with technology to transmit readings automatically to the city.
Source : Herald & Review (Decatur, IL)
May 21--Sherlock Holmes used a magnifying glass to trace a fingerprint to its source. Andrew Barron favors miniscule rust particles, millions of gallons of water and a magnet.Researchers in the Rice University chemistry professor's laboratory have developed nanoparticles that will flow with the fluid used to hydraulically fracture oil and gas wells, slip through rocks and travel wherever the water ends up -- in a holding pond at the surface, a tanker on the highway or, in a worst-case scenario, a nearby drinking water well.
Source : Citizens' Voice, The (Wilkes-Barre, PA)
May 15--A utility company will replace nearly 4 miles of century-old water mains in Scranton this year.Pennsylvania American Water plans a $3.7 million upgrade of water mains in South Side and West Side. The work will occur as follows:
Source : Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA)
May 21--With little discussion on the matter, the Statesville City Council voted to approve one of the costliest service contracts in the city's history Monday night.In making his motion to award a $19.8 million contract to the Ohio firm of Adams-Robinson Enterprises for major expansion work on the Third Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, Mayor Pro Tem Michael Johnson did say it was an historic move for the council.Including legal contingency funds, closing costs and miscellaneous other costs, the bottom line on the project of $21.3 million puts it in league with the price-tag that came with the work done at Lookout Shoals Lake about 10 years ago as the costliest endeavors ever.
Source : Statesville Record & Landmark (NC)
At Webster Well No. 1, housed in a small concrete building off Paseo del Norte and Barstow NE, crews under the supervision of the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority are finishing installation of the valves and pumps needed to create Albuquerque's first "aquifer storage and recovery" well.Building on a recommendation in the 2004 Middle Rio Grande Regional Water Plan, the water utility is testing the idea of pumping water underground, storing it for times when surpluses are available for later use during droughts or periods of high demand.
Source : Albuquerque Journal (NM)
May 15--Hazleton administrators want to enact a storm water maintenance fee that will vary in cost depending on the amount of porous and non-porous surface areas on properties, Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi said.Money generated from the fee, listed at $500,000 in the 2013 budget, will be used by the streets department for maintaining Hazleton's storm sewer collection system, the mayor said.The city could mail its first set of annual bills in the fall, Yannuzzi said.
Source : Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, PA)
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - A decades-old effort to nurse the battered Great Lakes to health has made progress toward reducing toxic pollution and slamming the door on invasive species, but the freshwater seas continue to face serious threats, a U.S.-Canadian agency said Tuesday.The International Joint Commission, which advises both nations on issues affecting shared waterways, said their governments had compiled a mixed record in restoring the Great Lakes, which for much of the 20th Century were fouled by industrial and household sewage and overrun with exotic fish and mussels.Algae blooms were reduced dramatically, only to stage a frustrating comeback in recent years.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
May 05--CUMBERLAND -- Allegany County commissioners last week awarded a contract for rehabilitation of sewers on Bedford Road.The work will be paid for through a 12.5 percent loan along with a loan forgiveness program.Most of the work will be completed by the end of "this year's construction season," said Daniel DeWitt, a county engineer involved in the project.
Source : Cumberland Times-News (MD)
West Virginia American Water announced the launch of a new program to provide a 20 percent discount on current residential water rates for certain low income households.In a release, the Company noted that the program, which will be offered year-round, was recently approved by the Public Service Commission of West Virginia."We pursued this program with the support of the state of West Virginia as a way to lessen the impact of rate increases for customers struggling to make ends meet," said President Jeff McIntyre.
Source : Unknown
The federal government is giving New Jersey $229 million in low- interest loans and grants to make treatment facilities more resilient after billions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into waterways when the sewer plants were damaged by superstorm Sandy.When Sandy struck last October, it incapacitated sewer treatment facilities from Washington to Connecticut, causing an estimated 11 billion gallons of sewage to flow into rivers and bays.The storm shut down New Jersey's largest sewage treatment plant, the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission's facility in Newark, which handles the flow from 1.5 million customers in dozens of North Jersey towns along both sides of the Passaic River.
Source : Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.
May 03--HARLINGEN -- The Harlingen Irrigation District has made major steps to conserve water but much more needs to be done, Wayne Halbert, the district's general manager, told a Chamber of Commerce audience Tuesday morning.1, evolved from the Harlingen Land and Water Co., founded by pioneer developer Lon C. Hill in 1905, Halbert said.In the 1950s and 1960s, 160 miles of Harlingen Irrigation District's canals were enclosed in concrete pipe, but although that is a better system than the earthen canals most irrigation districts have, there are still many miles of open canals with big water losses from evaporation, Halbert said.
Source : Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX)
April 29--ORLEANS -- The May 13 annual town meeting will focus on the complex and emotional issue of wastewater.The first, Article 11 on the special town meeting warrant, requests $3.5 million from taxpayers to do the engineering design for a sewer system and treatment plant for downtown Orleans, and further study of wastewater treatment in the Meeting House Pond area.Converting the commercial area of Orleans from septic systems to sewers could revitalize downtown and will clean local waters, but it will be costly, said Jon Fuller, chairman of the Orleans Board of Selectmen.
Source : Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, MA)
April 28--Sheena Willison, a senior at Frostburg State University, recently traveled to Uganda as part of a group teaching lifesaving water purification techniques to outlying villagers.She is a member of FSU President Jonathan Gibralter's President's Leadership Circle.The 19-hour flight from Dulles International Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, to Rawanda and finally Uganda, was the first flight ever for Willison.
Source : Cumberland Times-News (MD)
April 23--The New Mexico Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling challenging the state's process for transferring water rights to a state-run field of groundwater wells.But as state engineer, Verhines also is the person responsible for making the decision to approve or deny the water rights transfer application.In response, Judge Raymond Romero of the 5th Judicial District Court in Eddy County last week called a halt to the water rights transfers while the conflict of interest question is debated.
Source : Albuquerque Journal (NM)
WASHINGTON, April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) announced today that it selected Bernardin Lochmueller & Associates' (BLA) wetland treatment system in Washington, Ind. for a 2013 Engineering Excellence Honor Award. ACEC, the leading engineering trade association, evaluated 146 submissions and selected the Washington project as one of 24 to recognize nationally.To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/constructed- wetland-system-wins-national-honor-saves-26-million-203799381.html
Source : PRNewswire
April 23--BETHEL -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture selected Bethel to receive a total of $1,303,000 in grant and loan money to upgrade the town's water and waste disposal systems.Maine is one of 32 states that will receive funds through the USDA's Rural Development program. Town Manager Jim Doar said the town had pursued Rural Development funds to upgrade its water and waste disposal systems, including the replacement of a 40-year-old pump station.
Source : "Sun Journal (Lewiston, ME)"
Forty metres below Duncrue Street an innovative piece of engineering was carried out in 2008 on the city's Victorian sewers to help secure the system. A key section of Belfast's deepest tunnel, nearly a mile long, was completed as a massive tunnel boring machine made its breakthrough. Capable of holding vast overflows of storm water -- up to four million gallons --- it was installed to reduce the risk of sewer flooding in the greater Belfast area.
Source : Belfast Telegraph
APPLE CREEK -- After letting ADR and Associates go in March, council heard from two other engineering firms over the past month about improving the village water system, and opted to go with Engineering Associates for improvements to the facility.After the six-month trial period expired, Dean suggested the village upgrade its facilities instead of build a new structure.Earlier this month, council heard a presentation from W.E. Quicksall and Associates of New Philadelphia.
Source : "Daily Record, The (Wooster, OH)"
April 23--MOUNT VERNON -- Representatives of Burlington's Dike District 12 will appear before the county hearing examiner Wednesday to defend a plan to raise the district's levees by 4 feet and widen them up to 60 feet in places.The district wants to raise the levees along a mile-and-a-half-long section east of the railroad bridge over the Skagit River between Burlington and Mount Vernon. O p e r a t i o n s m a n a g -- er Dan Lefeber said the work is crucial to protecting the district's taxpayers, most of whom are in Burlington's city limits.
Source : Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon, WA)
WOOSTER -- To understand the city's thinking when it purchased the Layton School property requires a bit of understanding of what the water system looks like.Across the city's borders, Wooster is divided into four water zones -- the north high pressure zone, the intermediate zone, low pressure zone and the south high zone."If we had one tower at the northern part on Milltown providing water for the entire city, the pressure would be too much at the southern end," said Roger Kobilarcsik, city engineer.
Source : "Daily Record, The (Wooster, OH)"
Long Beach residents and businesses are getting a bigger incentive to convert their yards to drought-tolerant landscapes.The Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners voted last week to increase the amount new applicants to the Lawn-to-Garden program receive to $3 per square foot of grass transformed, up from $2.50 per square foot. The program funds the first 1,000 square feet of lawn removed, meaning that customers can have as much as $3,000 reimbursed.
Source : "Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA)"
WASHINGTON, April 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wyland Foundation and Toyota will launch the second annual National Mayor's Challenge for Water Conservation from the nation's capital, with support from Mayor Vincent C. Gray and city leaders from around the country. The Earth Month initiative will reward residents from cities with the highest percentage of participants with hundreds of environmentally friendly prizes, including a Toyota Prius c, water-saving fixtures and gift certificates to Lowe's stores.At the kick-off in Washington, D.C., renowned marine artist Wyland will join Gray, Nancy Stoner, acting assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and representatives from Toyota, National League of Cities, CH2M Hill WaterMatch, DC Water and the U.S. Forest Service to discuss the importance of sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Source : PRNewswire
Urban sprawl and paved paradise threaten clean fresh water today and tomorrow, says leading expertTORONTO, March 14, 2013 /CNW/ - While nine-in-10 (90 per cent) Canadians believe that an extreme weather-related disaster is possible in their community, town or city, few are aware of the consequences if excess water caused by rain and snow storms is not managed properly. In towns and cities across Canada, paved surfaces, overloaded storm water management infrastructure and extreme weather conditions dramatically increase the challenge of managing excess water caused by storms.
Source : Canada Newswire
MINERSVILLE - The borough is going to start making sure residents are in compliance with state Department of Environmental Protection regulations to have their sewer and stormwater separated.Borough Manager Joseph Bass and police Chief Michael Combs said Friday that the borough has been getting pressured by DEP and information will be going out within the next week."There's a lot of people who have their storm drains or downspouts going into the sewer system and you can't do that," Combs said.
Source : Republic_Pottsvi
Water providers such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Cucamonga Valley Water District are likely to meet conservation goals, but that does not mean their customers will be immune from future supply problems, according to a new study led by USC researchers.The report, released today, concludes that Southern California agencies' current conservation strategies may be too modest to protect water supplies in light of future uncertainties. "There will be less water per capita," she added.
Source : Inland_Valley_Da