Water
Downhole Directional Drilling Tools: Equipment Spotlight
Downhole directional drilling tools from Hunting Trenchless, American Augers, Radius HDD Tools, Melfred Borzall, Horizontal Technology, INROCK, Ballantine, Vermeer, Railhead Underground Products, Sharewell HDD Services, HammerHead Trenchless Equipment, Straightline, Condux Intl. and Ditch Witch.
Ice Pigging: New Water, Sewer Pigging Method Offers Unique Benefits
A new breed of pipeline “pig” has arrived in the United States. “Pigging” to clean pipelines is an accepted procedure used by utility pipeline owners. The process is relatively simple: a device (pig) is inserted into a pipe where pressure forces it through the pipe, scraping the inside sidewalls and carrying debris to an exit point out of the pipe. A variety of pig designs are available.
Loans approved for Texas water/wastewater development
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has approved financial assistance totaling $60,695,198 as follows:
New Tools Added To WERF’s SIMPLE Online Knowledge Base
Improving the quality of wastewater service is daunting in the face of the challenges posed by aging of the networks of pipes and pumping stations; over 800,000 miles of water pipe and 600,000 miles of wastewater infrastructure with some components over 100 years old.
The Texas Water Development Board approves financial aid
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has approved financial assistance loans totaling $29,382,800 as follows:
The Development Of St. Petersburg’s Water Resources Department Succession Plan
Around 2005, many utilities across the country were aware of the statistical data indicating that as the baby boomer generation reached retirement, there would be a substantial number of employees with many years of experience and expertise departing the workforce.
Remote Inspection Equipment: Product Focus
Remote inspection equipment from CUES, Radiodetection, Aries Industries, Envirosight, Pearpoint, RapidView, Ratech Electronics, RedZone Robotics and R.S. Technical Services.
Five-year plan to replace Pittsburg, KS water lines
In June, a five-year water line replacement project for the city of Pittsburg, KS, was presented to city commissioners by John Bailey, public utilities director. The cost to replace the city’s 100-year old water lines and hydrants is expected to be at least $250,000 annually.
IPR, EcoCast Thwart Threat Of Sewer Collapse
The threat that a large, severely deteriorated Houston sewer line could cause the collapse of a road at the intersection of a major highway was averted by a timely trenchless rehabilitation project.
City Of Houston Approves Wastewater Rehab System
Southern Trenchless’ Manhole Mortar structural repair product system is now approved for use by the city of Houston’s Public Works and Engineering Department.
Europe’s 2012 gravity pipe usage studied
According to a newly completed market study by Applied Market Information Ltd. (AMI Consulting), in 2012, the total volume of plastic raw materials used in the production of pipes in Europe will exceed 1.9 million tonnes. The total value of the European gravity pipes market is estimated at circa EUR 6.5 billion.
14th Annual Horizontal Directional Drilling Survey: Telecom, Energy Drive Market, But Is It Sustainable?
Depending upon where you are located and what niche drives your business, the horizontal directional drilling market for 2012 is a mix of strong, mediocre and stagnant. But where business is good, it is very, very good.
Houston gets loan approval for wastewater system upgrades
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) approved by resolution a loan in the amount of $48,750,000 from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to the city of Houston (Harris County) to finance the construction of wastewater system improvements.
Drought Brings Challenges To City Water Departments
Failed crops drooping over dry, rock-hard soil backed by record heat . . . dried lake beds and farm ponds . . . reservoirs falling to dangerously-low levels . . . wildfires burning tens of thousands of acres, consuming everything in their path . . . And the list goes on.
Laney Directional Drilling Record Crossing
Laney Directional Drilling Co., a leading provider of horizontal directional drilling services to the energy, telecommunications and infrastructure sectors, announced that it has successfully completed the horizontal directional drill (HDD) installation of nearly 11,000 feet of 6-inch steel gas pipeline in one pull under Lake Houston.
Palo Alto Institutes Pro-Active Plan To Locate, Correct Crossbores
As crossbores continue to cause concern and controversy across the United States, the city of Palo Alto, CA, is taking a pro-active approach to find gas lines that have penetrated sewer laterals during installation by horizontal directional drilling (HDD), and to correct the problem before a costly and dangerous accident can occur.
WERF Releases Force Main Inspection Study
Pressurized force mains represent a relatively small percentage of the nation’s wastewater collection infrastructure, but are essential in many systems to move waste where gravity isn’t sufficient to sustain flow. Failure in a force main segment can cause major disruptions in service with costly operational and environmental consequences.
Unique Solution To Manhole Installations In Busy Chicago Intersections
DiPaolo Construction, of Calumet City, IL, recently completed a $14 million underground utility project to install personnel access manhole structures over an existing combined storm/sanitary sewer line in the South Chicago community of Hegewisch.
Obama 2013 Budget Boosts PMHSA, Cuts Clean Water, SRF
Obama administration budget requests for fiscal 2013 for key pipeline regulatory and construction programs are working their way through congressional appropriation committees. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) would receive new funding for additional inspectors, allowing the agency to do more intensive inspections of pipeline safety.
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.
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.
EPA awards grant to Missouri city for sewer project
EPA has awarded $1,455,000 to the city of Lee’s Summit, MO, for improvements to its sewer system. The project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2014.
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.
Birmingham Water Works tries to reassure customers
The Birmingham Water Works Board is distancing itself from Jefferson County’s financial woes following a filing on Nov. 9 of the largest government bankruptcy in U.S. history, according to an article in The Birmingham News.
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.
- 290-mile gas pipeline expansion proposed across Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina
- $227 million Garnet Valley water project advances, set to create 73,000 jobs in Nevada
- Construction underway for $1.4 billion, 60-mile water pipeline in Chicago
- HDD industry faces challenges as cities push back on fiber drilling disruptions
- Worker dies after trench collapse at sewer project site in Norwich, Conn.
- Gehl and Mustang offer world’s largest skid loader
- Growing Pains and Gains
- Authorities investigating trench collapse that killed worker in Ashburn, Va.
- Pasadena, Calif., undergrounding project could take 500 years to finish
- $227 million Garnet Valley water project advances, set to create 73,000 jobs in Nevada