News21’s investigative report that around 63 million Americans are exposed to unsafe drinking water is making headlines in the USA’s major online news agencies. The report examined the Environmental Protection Agency violations on water quality and monitoring affecting places from California to New York City The USA Today reports: The findings highlight how six decades of industrial … [Read more...]
New California Legislation Recognizes Watersheds as Critical Infrastructure
It is no secret that the US State of California has spent the last hundred years creating a vast system and network of pipes, pump stations, and aqueducts that reach far and wide into distant regions in order to filter water from remote rivers into hard to reach dry zones in the Southern part of the state. It's an engineering marvel, but only so long as the ecosystems they are drawing from can … [Read more...]
The ASCE 2017 Wastewater Infrastructure Report and Asset Management Planning
Wastewater and Stormwater infrastructure in the 2017 ASCE report Card received a D+. This is up from the 2013 report card grade of D. This is in part due to the fact there has been some innovation with the treatment plants to ensure protection against flooding and cross contamination and new more efficient and modern techniques being used to preserve water and reuse waste. However, to keep … [Read more...]
Singapore’s Answer to Wastewater Management – Effective Infrastructure Management
Engineers in the tiny island nation of Singapore have been constructing a state of the art new sewer system, know as the DTSS (Deep Tunnel Sewer System). Phase one of the project was completed in 2008 and phase two began in 2013. It is a cost-effective and sustainable solution, offered by the Singapore Public Utilities Board, to meet the country's long-term wastewater needs. The main … [Read more...]
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 and not trying to stop or change the naturally occurring patterns in waterways or geographically wet areas, instead to build resiliency and go with the changing tides. For design technology and … [Read more...]
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 well as increased conservation of existing water. Ecosystem Marketplace reports: "It is not yet … [Read more...]
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 reports: "This funding will pay for projects that improve water quality and protect drinking water across … [Read more...]
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, 21st-century technology could be employed to cut water prices and water infrastructure costs while … [Read more...]
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 metropilatan Phoenix as land uses changes from farming to residential. The partnership is signed for 50 years, allowing EPCOR Water to purchase water from MWD and ultimately decrease its reliance on groundwater pumping. … [Read more...]
USDA Provides $314 Million in Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Improvements in Rural Communities
On 2 November 2015, the USDA Secretary announced that they will be awarding $314 Million to upgrade and repair water and wastewater systems across the US - mostly in rural communities. The money is being divided between two grant programs: the Waste and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program (which is receiving $299 Million) and the Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant (ECWAG) program, … [Read more...]
Dealing with Montreal, Quebec’s 7.5 Billion Liters of 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 chute but the Canadian government, a US Senator and the public had major concerns about how the … [Read more...]
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 reports: "At a price tag of $470 million, the new thermal hydrolysis system has been 10 years in … [Read more...]
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