Water
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..
Update on Structural Design Methodology for Spray Applied Pipe Liners
To reduce emergency projects and impacts to the traveling public, departments of transportation (DOTs) can use spray-applied pipe linings (SAPLs) to renew deteriorated gravity stormwater conveyance conduits and culverts, provided they are discovered prior to loss of soil-structure interaction. An SA..
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..
HDD Projects Help Connect Colorado Water Systems
In Colorado, the cities of Denver, Aurora and 10 South Metro water providers have formed a partnership that provides communities the opportunity to purchase, transport and treat available renewable water. Water Infrastructure and Supply Efficiency (WISE) is one of the first organizations of its kin..
Pretty Means Nothing When Infrastructure is Crumbling Underneath
by Robert Carpenter, Editor-in-Chief Brown or blackish water comes out of the sink, toilets back up, the television is nothing but snow, internet is down or there’s no signal for cell phones (millennials shudder at the thought). This dark vision is actually happening in one U.S. city and unfortunat..
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..
Water Infrastructure Improvements Forecasted at $683 Billion by 2027
Capital expenditures (CAPEX) for U.S. municipal water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure will exceed $683 billion over the next decade, according to new forecasts from Bluefield Research. Improvement plans demonstrate a wide range of capital needs, but distribution and collection networks fo..
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..
Regulators Order Changes at North Mississippi Water Utility
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi utility regulators are ordering changes in a rural water association. The move came after residents complained about water quality and other issues with Lafayette County’s 850-customer Punkin Water Association. The Oxford Eagle reports Northern District Commissione..
Pittsburgh Will Add Chemical to Water to Reduce Lead Risk
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh officials have received approval from the state to add a chemical to its water supply to help reduce lead contamination. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority will start adding orthophosphate to its water in August. The chemical ..
Michigan Plans $1.7M Water Survey for Chemical Contaminants
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is planning a $1.7 million survey for certain kinds of industrial chemical contaminants in water supplies around the state. The chemicals are known as PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Unsafe levels have been detected in lakes and drinking wa..
$23 Million Awarded for Water Projects in Texas
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has approved financial assistance in excess of $23 million from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for the following pipeline construction projects: $22 million from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to the Johnson County Special Utility Distric..
Crews Seal Sinkhole at Florida Fertilizer Plant
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Crews have sealed a giant sinkhole that opened up beneath a fertilizer plant waste pond nearly two years ago sending millions of gallons of polluted water into Florida’s main drinking water aquifer. A spokeswoman for facility owner Mosaic told The Tampa Bay Times that the hole at..
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 ..
Flint Implements Programs to Keep Water Fund out of the Red
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Flint officials are implementing several collection and restoration programs to keep its water fund solvent as the city attempts to rebound from a lead-tainted water crisis. Extending a trial water fee collection period and issuing water liens are part of Flint Chief Financial O..
Broken Pipe Disrupts Water Service in Southern Illinois
BENTON, Ill. (AP) — A broken water main in southern Illinois has left several cities short of water, forcing the closing of schools and businesses. Officials say a breach in a 36-inch water distribution line at the Rend Lake Conservancy water plant near Benton is the reason for the loss of water se..
$62.5 Million Sewer and Water Project Begins in New York City
In honor of National Infrastructure Week, May 14-21, 2018, New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Vincent Sapienza and Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Acting Commissioner Ana Barrio announced that workers recently broke ground on a $62.5 million infrastru..
Legislation Proposed to Ban California Water Tunnel Lawsuits
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California congressman wants to ban environmental lawsuits challenging a plan to build two gigantic tunnels to divert water from the north to the thirsty south. Rep. Ken Calvert, a Riverside County Republican, inserted the ban in a 142-page draft of an Interior Departmen..
New EPA Funding Leverages Public, Private Investments in Water Infrastructure Projects
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of funding – up to $5.5 billion in loans – that could leverage more than $11 billion in water infrastructure projects through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. “Thanks to the President’s lea..
Alliance Water Project Proceeds; Selects Consultant
Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN) was selected by Alliance Regional Water Authority (Alliance Water), as a pipeline engineering consultant for a major water project serving several Texas communities in the I-35 corridor. Since 2007, Alliance Water, formerly the Hays Caldwell Public Utility Agen..
EPA Awards $25.4 Million to Support Small Drinking Water, Wastewater Systems
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding more than $25 million in grants to help the country’s small drinking and wastewater systems, and private well owners, better protect public health and the environment. The grants will fund training and technical assistance to help workforce..
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..
East Chicago Lead Water Line Project Lacks Participation
EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) — A utilities director in northwest Indiana says lagging participation in a lead water service line replacement project could affect the area’s ability to justify future projects. The East Chicago Water Board approved a $3.1 million plan last year to replace lead and galvani..
Providence Offers Interest-Free Loans to Replace Lead Pipes
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The city of Providence has launched a program offering interest-free loans to homeowners so they can replace old lead water pipes. The $1.2 million program will give homeowners three years to repay the loans with no interest. The average cost of replacing a home’s lead..
Sinkhole Swallows up Backhoe Digging to Repair Water Main
HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) — Fire officials in New Jersey say no one was injured when a sinkhole opened up and swallowed excavation equipment outside a Hackensack mall. The Hackensack Fire Department says a backhoe was digging to repair a water main at the Shops at Riverside Mall in Hackensack Monday af..
Washington Water Service’s Schlender Receives Drinking Water Week Commitment to Excellence Award
Washington Water Service’s (Washington Water) Water Quality Manager Carol Schlender has received the Drinking Water Week Commitment to Excellence award from the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). The Drinking Water Week Commitment to Excellence award is given to an individual water system..
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..
- 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
- Pasadena, Calif., undergrounding project could take 500 years to finish
- Construction underway for $1.4 billion, 60-mile water pipeline in Chicago
- HDD industry faces challenges as cities push back on fiber drilling disruptions
- Gehl and Mustang offer world’s largest skid loader
- Growing Pains and Gains
- Authorities investigating trench collapse that killed worker in Ashburn, Va.
- City of Albuquerque halts fiber optic construction in response to damage, complaints
- Pasadena, Calif., undergrounding project could take 500 years to finish