The Grand Canyon, the Mojave Desert, Monument Valley...If you think about Arizona, images of beautiful water-filled canals and orange groves aren't exactly what come to mind. Yet, these are exactly the pictures that were painted for Americans by a government trying to convince them to move into …
21st Century Approach to Water Utility Resilience
For those investing in water infrastructure and water solutions, there is a concept that must be grasped: water will always win against human control. It is possible to think outside the box and not trying to stop or change the naturally occurring patterns in waterways or geographically wet …
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Listen to the Ask the Infrastructure Asset Management Experts Webinar Now!
On 30 June 2016, Ross Waugh and Heather Himmelberger held another “Ask the Expert: A Unique Opportunity to Ask Your Asset Management Questions or Seek Advice on How to Begin” webinar. This is the 5th webinar they have conducted. Reflecting on the Flint Michigan crisis, Ross presented the "Levels …
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Infrastructure Asset Management Challenge – Sanitation Failures and Hookworm Infections in Rural Alabama
In Lowndes County, Alabama, many septic systems are old, leaking, or have failed completely. Problems thought to have been solved at the turn of the 20th century have again surfaced, mostly in the form of hookworm infecting many children living in these rural communities. Often this is so …
New Investment Center Initiative to Aid Water Systems and Development in Western USA
The U.S. Department of the Interior launched a new center in December 2015 to encourage water infrastructure investment in the dry West of the United States. The Natural Resource Investment Center (NRIC) has been set up in the hopes that new infrastructure will be developed and invested in as …
Infrastructure Asset Management Planning Thoughts on EPA-Funded Water Infrastructure Projects of Connecticut
On 1 December 2015, EPA announced it had awarded Connecticut $26 million to help finance water improvement projects. These funds are intended for the upgrading of sewage plants and drinking water systems, as well as dealing with aging infrastructure through the state. The EPA …
Fitting the Great Lakes Region Roads with Green Stormwater Infrastructure
In the Great Lakes regions of both the USA and Canada, infrastructure managers are considering how they could use road runoff by creating a green Stormwater infrastructure to handle the excess water that is often rapidly channeled to nearby ponds, rivers, or lakes. Often, if the water runs into …
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21st Century Innovations to Solve Water Shortages – Infrastructure Management
It has been observed by many that quite often water utilities are trying to replace aging infrastructure from the 20th century or earlier with very similar infrastructure such as central water and wastewater systems. What if this thinking was turned upside down? What if new, innovative, …
Forging Public-Private Agreement as a Water Utility Infrastructure Management Strategy
Phoenix, Arizona's EPCOR Water, and Maricopa Water District announced an innovative agreement on the 17th of November 2015 that will assist in supplying water needs in western metropolitan Phoenix as land uses changes from farming to residential. The partnership is signed for 50 years, allowing …
Dealing with Montreal’s Sewage – Infrastructure Management Thoughts
The city of Montreal, Quebec had planned to dump 7.5 billion liters of wastewater into the nearby St. Lawrence River on the 25th of October 2015, but the government, just one week away from the election, intervened and ordered them not to. The sewage dump was part of a plan to move a snow …
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World’s Biggest Thermal Hydrolysis Waste-to-Energy System and Infrastructure Management Planning
Washington DC should be the first city in the U.S. to start using thermal hydrolysis to convert biosolids from wastewater into renewable methane. The facility at Blue Plains then uses the methane to feed into three giant turbines which produce electricity at a net of 10 megawatts. Clean Technica …
Assessing Future Demand, Florida Sinkholes and Groundwater Pumping
A deadly sinkhole that claimed the life of a Florida man two years ago reopened last summer. Local authorities believe that this may be due to heavy rains. Sinkholes are often the result of groundwater levels becoming too low following excessive pumping. Florida has also seen wells dry up due to …
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