Utility Infrastructure
Maine Utility Regulators to Consider $1.5B FairPoint Sale
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine utility regulators are ready to delve into details of the proposed $1.5 billion sale of FairPoint Communications, the country’s eighth-largest phone and internet company. Consolidated Communications, based in Illinois, announced in December it was buying FairPoint, assum..
West Virginia American Water Names New President
West Virginia American Water has named Brian Bruce its new president, effective March 1, 2017. Bruce replaces Jeffrey McIntyre, who has been named Senior Vice President of American Water’s Mid-Atlantic Division, encompassing Pennsylvania and West Virginia. McIntyre will also become President of Penn..
Utility Altered Water Treatment Chemicals Without Approval
PITTSBURGH (AP) — State environmental officials found that the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority altered its water treatment chemicals without approval, although there is so far no evidence that this move has caused any public health risk. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (http://bit.ly..
Illinois Community Utilizes Economical Grouting Solution
By Tom Fuszard Communities and sewage districts looking to save on repairs to leaking laterals are finding chemical grouting a great option. For pipes that are structurally sound, it is often the best method to use. Sugarloaf Township, IL, used this process and discovered that the project paid for ..
Pipe Plugs Help To Prevent Cedar Rapids Flooding
In late September 2016, rising waters of the Cedar River initiated a state of emergency in Cedar Rapids, IA. Memories were still fresh of the great flood of 2008, the worst in the city’s history. The Cedar River crested at 31 feet, which is 19 feet above flood stage, inundating more than 1,000 d..
Survey Shows Utilities' Cybersecurity Not Keeping Up with Technology
An overwhelming majority (89%) of power and utility executives say their cybersecurity function does not fully meet their organization’s needs, according to the EY Global Information Security Survey 2016-17. That number continues to rise compared with last year (86% in 2015) as companies struggle t..
Pennsylvania Township Still Deals with Industrial Water Contamination
VANPORT, Pa. (AP) — A battle is brewing among several entities over financial responsibility for water treatment, and the township municipal authority — for the time being — is stuck in the middle footing the bill. That bill — estimated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to ..
Texas Town Changing Disinfectant to Improve Water Supply
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) – Different chlorine will be used by a South Texas city working to improve its water supply after issues including a four-day usage ban in December. Corpus Christi officials on Tuesday announced plans to temporarily change water disinfectant, starting March 6, with the ch..
Water Research Foundation Publishes Report On Infrastructure Funding
The Water Research Foundation (WRF), a leading sponsor of innovative research supporting the water community, has published a new report to help utilities assess several new and emerging capital financing alternatives. The report indicates that while new options may help, utilities still need suffic..
Trying To Gauge The Trump Bounce Effect
by Robert Carpenter Editor-in-Chief Before the November presidential and congressional elections, remember how all the so-called financial experts and talking heads kept telling America that if, by some fluke, Donald Trump was elected president, the stock market would plummet, the economy would slo..
2017 Municipal Infrastructure Survey: New Political Direction Brings Cautious Optimism
After experiencing an uptick in municipal sewer and water infrastructure spending in 2015 and budgeting for the trend to continue into 2016, America’s municipal personnel were, for the most part, sorely disappointed. But municipal personnel are anything if not resilient, and there is a strong antici..
Utility Recognizes Innovative Employees
Through its annual Innovation Awards program, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation recently recognized 68 employees who implemented 41 improvement projects in 2016 that provided tangible benefits for Central Hudson and its customers. “Innovation is a core value at Central Hudson, and one our e..
New Jersey American Water Invests $5.8 Million In Water Mains
New Jersey American Water is investing more than $5.8 million in approximately 20,800 feet of new (ductile iron) pipe to replace water mains that were installed as far back as the 1920s. Construction and street restoration will be completed in the spring and summer of 2017. “With the installation o..
Utility to Pay $8.5 Million to Settle Suit Over Gas Blowout
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Southern California Gas Co. agreed Wednesday to pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit over a well blowout that spewed natural gas for nearly four months and drove thousands of residents from their Los Angeles homes. The utility signed an agreement with the South Coast Air Qu..
Corpus Christi Hires Water Director
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — Corpus Christi has hired a new water director after supply issues including a chemical leak prompted a four-day water usage ban in December. City officials Monday announced the appointment of Clarence Wittwer as water director. Wittwer most recently served as deputy ass..
EPA Announces WIFIA Program For Financing Large Water Projects
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the new Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program that will provide long-term, low-cost credit assistance in the form of direct loans and loan guarantees to creditworthy water projects. WIFIA provides another option for ..
Sanitary District in Indiana Reaches Deal on Sewer Overflows
The district says it’s working with the town of Highland to finalize a similar agreement. “We learned lessons from other Indiana communities to make sure that we understand what projects would be required and ensure we had the maximum reasonable time possible to construct them,”..
Oklahoma Gas & Electric Named Utility Customer Champion
Market Strategies International has named Oklahoma Gas & Electric a Utility Customer Champion in its recently announced Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™ study. OG&E achieved the Utility Customer Champion designation after receiving a score of 745 on the ECR index, a score that pu..
Sentient Energy Expands Intelligent Analytics to Entire Distribution Grid
Sentient Energy, Inc. today announced its new Sentient ZM1™ zero amperage grid monitor for deployment on cellular and mesh networks. The Sentient ZM1 is the world’s first advanced line monitor that can be deployed on distribution lines even where no or very-low amperage is available to power monito..
Utilities Move to Save Merger Amid Criticism
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Missouri-based utility sought Monday to rescue its proposal to buy Kansas’ largest electric company amid strong criticism that their $12.2 billion deal is too rich and would create a larger but financially weakened firm with consumers on the hook for its problems. An attorney ..
Utility Improves Lead Testing
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) is implementing a new streamlined process for handling lead test kit requests, which will improve the integration of lead test data gathered from the certified contract labs and enable PWSA to provide more accurate and timely feedback to customers. Eff..
Sewer District Awards $7.2 million for Infrastructure Improvements
Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Trustees recently awarded $7.2 million to 12 communities as part of the agency’s newly-launched Member Community Infrastructure Program (MCIP). The MCIP assists communities with local infrastructure improvements — including new sewer infrastructure, repairs to..
Missouri Utilities Push Law Change to Address Infrastructure
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri utilities want lawmakers to pass a law to help them get money more quickly from customers to pay for infrastructure improvements. Ameren Missouri and other utilities told a panel of state senators Wednesday that a proposed bill to recover costs would enable moder..
Pennsylvania American Water Kicks Off Scholarship Program
Pennsylvania American Water is now accepting applications for its 2017 Stream of Learning Scholarship Program to provide financial assistance to high school seniors who are planning to pursue careers in the water and wastewater industry. The program is designed to support outstanding students living..
Poisonous Manhole Fumes Claim Lives of 3 Utility Workers
KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — Three underground utility workers have died while investigating a sewage backup. According to Monroe County spokeswoman Cammy Clark, one of the men working for the county’s contractor, Douglas N. Higgins, went down a drainage manhole Monday morning to investigate why a newly ..
Utility to Replace Aging Gas Pipelines in Ohio
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio (AP) – Dominion East Ohio has announced plans to replace more than 15,000 feet of the utility’s aging gas pipelines in Cuyahoga Falls. The Akron Beacon Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2jxff50 ) the work will be split up into two projects totaling more than $3 million. The proje..
Houston Public Works Director Unveils Sewer, Water Plans
Dale Rudick, director of Houston’s Public Works and Engineering Division, discussed the department, current projects and its upcoming, five-year capital improvement plan (CIP) at the Dec. 7 luncheon meeting of the Underground Construction Technology Association Gulf Coast Chapter. As director, Rudi..
Henkels & McCoy Opens Midwest Pipeline Division Office
Henkels & McCoy Inc., a national utility infrastructure construction company, has opened a new Midwest Pipeline Division office in Monee, IL, providing the same services of all its Pipeline Divisions, with an emphasis on integrity management projects. “With boots on the ground in this important Mid..
Officials Probing After Several Manholes Explode in Massachusetts Town
BROCKTON, Mass. (AP) — An electricity distribution company is investigating a series of manhole explosions in Brockton. Officials say firefighters found six manhole covers had blown off their bases early Monday. Fire shot up from the ground. At least two businesses had to evacuate. National Grid s..
America Will Lose One-Third of its Electricity Generation Capacity Without More Infrastructure
A new report released by Consumer Energy Alliance found that rejecting pipeline infrastructure would remove almost one-third of U.S. electricity generation capacity by 2030, dangerously raising electric rates nationwide, especially for poverty-stricken households. The report, titled “Families, Comm..
- TxDOT advances massive drainage tunnel beneath I-35 in Austin
- Glenfarne Alaska LNG targets late-2026 construction start for 807-mile pipeline project
- U.S. water reuse boom to fuel $47 billion in infrastructure spending through 2035
- $2.3 billion approved to construct 236-mile Texas-to-Gulf gas pipeline
- Major water pipe break in Puerto Rico hits over 165,000 customers
- Pennsylvania American Water launches interactive map to identify, replace lead water service lines
- Trump's tariffs drive $33 million cost increase for Cincinnati sewer project
- Utah city launches historic $70 million tunnel project using box jacking under active rail line
- Tulsa residents warned after sewer lines damaged by boring work
- Fatal trench collapse halts sewer construction in Massachusetts; two workers hospitalized