Re-inventing America’s urban water infrastructure
Posted by: Maven on July 21, 2011 at 8:32 amFrom Water World:
“America’s cities face a looming water crisis, driven by climate change, growing population and a crumbling infrastructure. Recognizing the critical importance of this issue, the National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov/) has selected a partnership of four U.S. universities to form an Engineering Research Center (ERC) to address this challenge by developing new, sustainable ways to manage urban water. The initial grant is $18.5 million spread over five years, with additional millions to come in the subsequent five-year period following in-progress reviews. …
“Urban water represents a monumental challenge for the United States and it deserves concerted research and thinking on the grandest scale,” said project leader Richard Luthy, (http://www-ce.stanford.edu/faculty/luthy/) a professor of civil and environmental engineering (http://soe.stanford.edu/) and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment (http://woods.stanford.edu/) at Stanford. “We’re clearing the slate. Nothing is being taken for granted. We’ll be developing new strategies for replacing crumbling infrastructure, new technologies for water management and treatment, new ways to recover energy and water, and more – much of it yet to be determined.” … “
Continue reading from Water World by clicking here.
Virtual war a real threat: The U.S. is vulnerable to a cyber attack, with its electrical grids, pipelines, chemical plants and other infrastructure designed without security in mind
Posted by: Maven on March 29, 2011 at 8:37 amFrom the Los Angeles Times:
“When a large Southern California water system wanted to probe the vulnerabilities of its computer networks, it hired Los Angeles-based hacker Marc Maiffret to test them. His team seized control of the equipment that added chemical treatments to drinking water in one day.
The weak link: County employees had been logging into the network through their home computers, leaving a gaping security hole. Officials of the urban water system told Maiffret that with a few mouse clicks, he could have rendered the water undrinkable for millions of homes.
“There’s always a way in,” said Maiffret, who declined to identify the water system for its own protection. … “
Continue reading from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
On World Water Day, calls for improving water infrastructure
Posted by: Maven on March 22, 2011 at 9:17 amFrom H. David Nahai at the LA Daily News:
“Today is World Water Day, a day designed to draw attention to the global water crisis and the drastic actions needed to address it. Southern California is certainly not immune to this crisis. The recent statewide shortages, caused by droughts and severe cut backs in water deliveries from the Owens Valley, the Colorado River and the Bay Delta, underscore this urgency.
California’s water system, designed to supply water to 16 million people, struggles to serve nearly 40 million residents. Daily, Los Angeles alone sees an average of four water main breaks, despite an ongoing (but underfunded) reliability program. All told, the state loses 10 percent of its water every year due to aging infrastructure. In a region already familiar with severe water shortages, wasting so much water is untenable. And the problem extends well beyond California. The federal government estimates water lost just from water main breaks is worth about $2.6 billion annually. … “
Continue reading Nahai’s commentary by clicking here.
But it’s not just California that has problems. From the Earth Institute’s State of the Planet blog:
“Today, World Water Day, is a day designed to draw attention to the state of one of the world's most precious resources. This is a global issue with many regional and local implications. Here in America, drinking water is under threat from many forces, but none so consistently overlooked as aging, deteriorating infrastructure. Our nation's water systems : everything that gets clean water to homes and buildings and takes dirty water away : are crumbling under the combined pressures of population growth, rapid urbanization and chronic underinvestment, and the price we pay can be measured in wasted water, wasted energy, lost productivity and risks to public health. … “
Continue reading from the State of the Planet blog by clicking here.
MORE: On World Water Day, ITT Draws Attention to Water Infrastructure; Conservation and energy savings depend on efficient and reliable water infrastructure; press release from ITT at Business Wire
House Democrats introduce legislation to provide infrastructure financing
Posted by: Maven on March 12, 2011 at 8:34 amFrom The Hill:
“House Ways and Means Committee Democrats introduced legislation Thursday to provide financing for infrastructure investments around the nation.
The measure extends eight bond, tax credit and loan guarantee programs for states and municipalities, anchored by the Build America Bonds (BAB) program, which helped finance $181 billion in infrastructure projects in the past two years, according to the committee.
“These proven programs are vital in our effort to rebuild America's infrastructure and economy,” said Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-Mich.). “There are still far too many states and municipalities, in addition to the 14 million unemployed Americans, struggling to regain their footing after the Great Recession, and this legislation gives them the tools to make long-needed investments.” … “
Continue reading from The Hill by clicking here.
Water industry leaders join forces to promote smarter solutions for water networks
Posted by: Maven on March 2, 2011 at 8:30 amFrom PR Web:
“Water industry leaders have announced today that they have joined forces in the establishment of SWAN, the Smart Water Networks Forum, a global industry alliance promoting the use of data technologies in water networks, to make them smarter, more efficient and more sustainable.
Smart Water Networks leverage data and information technology for an improved, streamlined and more efficient operation of water utility distribution networks. With the increased instrumentation and telemetry of water networks, a new layer of smart data applications has become possible. Smart Water Network solutions improve the efficiency, longevity, and reliability of the underlying physical water network by better measuring, collecting, analyzing, and acting upon a wide range of events. … “
Continue reading this press release at PR Web by clicking here.
Passing the Buck: If the consumer is not accountable for the water loss, where will utilities find the funding for costly repairs?
Posted by: Maven on February 24, 2011 at 7:49 amFrom the editor’s blog at the Water Efficiency Journal:
“Last week, I highlighted the NACWA (The National Association of Clean Water Agencies) statement about proposed budget cuts to the Clean Water Act. At issue was the effect of such a proposal: The NACWA believes that these cuts will ultimately help balance one budget by transferring the costs of compliance to the municipalities, who will likely tap their ratepayers to make up the difference. As we know, municipalities are themselves struggling to meet costs, and our ever-expanding infrastructure crisis is not helping.
The numbers from my last blog bear repeating: According to the EPA, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN), over the next 20 years, a $500-billion gap will exist between the funding available and desperately needed repairs. And we need not prognosticate to see what the next two decades will look like when real-world examples are available in every newspaper across the country. Type in “water\” into a Google news search, and you will see story after story about boil water notices and water main breaks. … “
Continue reading from the Water Efficiency Journal by clicking here.
Why invest in American infrastructure? Engineers join President Obama in calling for infrastructure investment to create jobs, restore aging roads and utility lines
Posted by: Maven on January 28, 2011 at 8:32 amFrom Construction Digital:
“Infrastructure has become the hot-button topic in America. One of the central themes of President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech on Tuesday, infrastructure planning,and who's going to pay for it all,had led to heated debate in every angle of the political spectrum.
Two factors are central to the debate,the economy and our desire to have the best in the world (doesn't really matter what we're the best in,the desire to be the best is as ingrained in most Americans as our love of football and fast food). … “
Continue reading from Construction Digital by clicking here.
Infrastructure: Invest now, or pay more later
Posted by: Maven on January 26, 2011 at 7:45 amFrom PR Newswire, this statement from Kathy J. Caldwell P.E., president of the American Society of Civil Engineers:
“As we approach President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight there is one thing that all Americans must remember: While it may be difficult to talk about such high-price priorities when families are still struggling, the cost that each and every one of us will face if we fail to invest in the nation’s infrastructure will be even more painful.
Infrastructure spending, no matter what form it takes, is an investment in our future prosperity, both economically and socially. … “
Continue reading from PR Newswire by clicking here.
Water or rail? We think there are better uses for infrastructure dollars, says the NC Times
Posted by: Maven on December 15, 2010 at 8:54 amFrom the North County Times, this editorial:
“Two recent news stories serve to illustrate the odd and misplaced priorities that we Californians have.
First (bearing in mind that water is essential to life), on Tuesday, North County Times reporter Brad Fikes surveyed new scientific research that supports the view that people in Southern California must do some hard work and make hard choices to escape looming water shortages.
That work includes, we assert, building much-needed water infrastructure to bring water from wet Northern California into the Central Valley and parts south.
The science suggests that we must do more to conserve and reclaim water, that we should put a higher value on salt-tolerant crops, that desalination operations will be needed to ease our shortages and that market water pricing must be allowed —- all true.
The second story was an item Monday in The Wall Street Journal noting that the California High Speed Rail Authority approved the $4.3 billion construction of about 65 miles of line between Corcoran (a tiny spot on the map north of Fresno) and Borden (on the way to Bakersfield) —- the first pieces of what will be nearly 800 miles of high-speed rail. … “
Continue reading this editorial from the North County Times by clicking here.
Crumbling water infrastructure needs a surge of investment
Posted by: Maven on October 28, 2010 at 8:14 amFrom GreenBiz.com:
“Water pipes and treatment systems in the U.S. are in a sorry state, but nearly two-thirds of voters and just over half of businesses would be willing to pay more for their water to ensure its quality and availability, according to a new study by the ITT Corporation.
ITT surveyed about 1,000 voters and 500 facilities and operations managers at industrial and agricultural businesses in the U.S. this past summer to see what Americans think should be done about the problem with water infrastructure and who they believe should pay for it. The firm released its report on the results of its “Value of Water Survey: Americans on the U.S. Water Crisis” today. … “
Read more from GreenBiz.com by clicking here.
Column: The corrosion of America
Posted by: Maven on October 27, 2010 at 8:03 amFrom the opinion pages of the New York Times, this column by Bob Herbert:
“If you had a leak in your roof or in the kitchen or basement, you'd probably think it a good idea to have it taken care of before matters got worse, and more expensive.
If only we had the same attitude when it comes to the vast and intricately linked water systems in the United States. Most of us take clean and readily available water for granted. But the truth is that the nation's water systems are in sorry shape deteriorating even as the population grows and demand increases. … “
Continue reading this commentary at the New York Times by clicking here.
Water Wired blog: Recent developments in water infrastructure investing
Posted by: Maven on October 16, 2010 at 7:12 amFrom the Water Wired blog:
“In a recent interview, American Water President and CEO Donald Correll said, “Our country's water and wastewater infrastructure is in serious need of repair. Both recently received a ‘D-' from the American Society of Civil Engineers.” There exist myriad ways to boost infrastructure investment, including government appropriations, private investment, and public-private partnerships. A 2009 American Water Works Association (AWWA) Report entitled, “Financing Water Infrastructure: A Water Infrastructure Bank and Other Innovations,” states that there are three primary funding sources paying for the majority of water infrastructure: bonds, loans, and available cash on hand. … “
Continue reading from the Water Wired blog by clicking here.
Fixing U.S. water systems will create a flood of jobs; New poll finds most voters support a tax on bottled water and soda to fund \Ӭwater projects
Posted by: Maven on July 1, 2010 at 7:49 amFrom the Food & Water Watch Press Room:
“Washington, D.C.,Addressing the $29 billion shortage in funds needed to upgrade and maintain water systems around the U.S. could create up to 750,000 jobs. Such community investment is the goal of Food & Water Watch's Campaign to Renew America's Water, which launched today, and aims to ensure a steady flow of cash to community water and sewer systems around the country.
“Many of our nation's water systems were built over a century ago,at the same time that Henry Ford produced the first Model T,\” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “You wouldn't expect anyone to rely on a car that old for their daily transportation, nor should you want the pipes that deliver your water to be equally outdated.
Food & Water Watch's Campaign to Renew America's Water seeks to establish a consistent source of federal funding for drinking water and sewer systems so that communities never fall short of the funds needed to maintain and repair them. The campaign will also aim to fix school water infrastructure, build environmentally friendly water and sewer systems, and promote public control of municipal water. … “
Continue reading from Food and Water Watch by clicking here.
Peter Gleick: U.S. water system needs better enforcement, smart investment to ensure quality
Posted by: Maven on June 15, 2010 at 7:38 amFrom the Washington Post, this commentary by Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute:
“In 1908, Jersey City, N.J., became the first city in the United States to chlorinate its municipal tap water. Other municipalities rapidly followed suit with water filtration and purification systems, and the United States witnessed what were arguably the most dramatic and rapid improvements in public health ever achieved. Over the next couple of decades, cholera and dysentery effectively disappeared. Health experts estimate that half of the entire decline in urban death rates and three-quarters of the drop in infant mortality from 1900 to 1940 resulted from the improvement in water quality.
The dramatic drop in illness contributed to the increase in labor productivity, industrial output and school attendance that occurred at the beginning of the 20th century and helped the United States become the dominant industrial power of the time. The country’s remarkable drinking water system sets it apart from the rest of the world. Even today, there are relatively few countries where inexpensive, high-quality, safe drinking water is widely available from the faucet 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and where the population trusts it enough to drink it. … “
Continue reading Peter Gleick’s commentary by clicking here.
Efforts underway at Virginia Tech to address deterioration of nation’s water pipes
Posted by: Maven on May 28, 2010 at 8:06 amFrom EurekAlert:
“More than two million miles of the nation’s infrastructure of water and wastewater pipes is nearing the end of its useful life, but the mostly underground facilities often do not attract much attention because of this “invisibility,” said Sunil Sinha, Virginia Tech associate professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE). http://www.cee.vt.edu/index.phpdo=view&content=0&apps=2&level=2&id=17&pid=b024555fa7f439a27509de488a7b5749
To help remedy this growing national concern, Sinha will be directing two new research projects to develop a National Pipeline Infrastructure Database. Information will be gathered on technologies to assess the condition as well as the location of the buried pipes, and on methods of how to repair, rehabilitate or replace them entirely. Sinha is conducting this research through the Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) Center of Excellence (ICE) in Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management (SWIM). http://yubanet.com/scitech/Engineers-Have-Created-ICE-in-Order-to-SWIM.php
Sinha explained there are a vast number of different types of water and waste water pipes, and different technologies will be required to correct any problems.
“The proposed databases will be like a Wikipedia for the water and waste water utilities except users will not have editing privileges,” Sinha said. Instead, this database will be maintained and updated by SWIM. It will provide the case studies, lists of vendors, consultants and contractors on a regional basis that deal in a particular technology, and comments from end users about individual experiences with a particular technology. … “
Continue reading from EurekAlert by clicking here.
Commentary: Water infrastructure: The unseen crisis
Posted by: Maven on May 4, 2010 at 6:13 amFrom Steven R. Loranger at the Huffington Post:
“When most of us think of infrastructure, we probably think of bridges, roads, trains and fiber optic cable–the visible circulatory system of a society that moves goods, services and knowledge from one point to another. But we now face new challenges brought on by unprecedented population growth that require us to rethink how we define and address the issue of global infrastructure.
This was a hot topic at this year’s Milken Institute Global Conference, which I attended last week. Something I addressed there is my belief that we must redefine infrastructure to include systems that ensure a supply of clean, usable water and virtual networks such as national air traffic management systems. ….
The importance of investment in air traffic management modernization remains a priority, but one month since World Water Day, let’s focus on the unseen crisis of global water infrastructure. … “
Read more of this commentary at the Huffington Post by clicking here.
Water: Another infrastructure challenge
Posted by: Maven on April 15, 2010 at 6:54 amFrom Triple Pundit:
“Among the usual items that make up U.S. infrastructure challenges, including land development, roads, bridges and a host of other transportation needs, it's time to add water systems to the list, according to a report released Tuesday by the Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young.
In fact, our “water profligacy\” is well, just way too profligate, the 102-page report, Infrastructure in 2010: An Investment Imperative, says.
An increasing number of urban areas throughout the U.S. are facing growing pressures on their existing water infrastructure systems, meaning that more investment is needed for repairs and upgrades. Perhaps even more important, a change in development patterns and attitudes that are “more conducive to conservation\” is also needed.
The report cites “water profligacy as an American way of life,\” adding: “Most water districts do not charge ratepayers full outlays for constructing and maintaining systems \”¦ As a result, businesses and households tend to use water inefficiently and don't conserve even though per capita water demand could outstrip future availability in some parts of the country. We are starting to see the limits of where people can go (to live). … “
Continue reading this article from Triple Pundit by clicking here.
Add water systems to U.S. infrastructure challenges, says ‘Infrastructure 2010: An Investment Imperative’
Posted by: Maven on April 13, 2010 at 9:49 pmFrom PR Newswire, this press release from the Urban Land Institute:
“BOSTON, April 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — More and more urban areas throughout the United States : in both dry and rainy locales — are facing growing pressures on their water infrastructure systems, necessitating both greater investments for overhaul and a change in development patterns that are more conducive to conservation, according to Infrastructure 2010: An Investment Imperative, a new publication released today by the Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young.
Citing “water profligacy as an American way of life,” the report cautions: “Most water districts do not charge ratepayers full outlays for constructing and maintaining systems\”¦As a result, businesses and households tend to use water inefficiently and don’t conserve, even though per-capita water demand could outstrip future availability in some parts of the country\”¦We are starting to see the limits of where people can go (to live).” The supply/demand conundrum, it notes, stretches from arid California, Colorado and Arizona to humid Georgia and Florida. The report shows that the U.S. has the highest “water footprint” in the world, using nearly 656,000 gallons per capita annually, greatly outstripping far more populous China, which uses less than 186,000 gallons per capita annually.
The integration of more concentrated land development into water management can reduce runoff and combat waste, states the report. One example: the runoff from eight homes on eight acres totals 149,600 cubic feet per year, while the runoff from eight homes on one acre totals 39,600 cubic feet per year, with the denser development saving both water and land. “Changing growth patterns in response to dwindling resources will not come easy to a nation that is not accustomed to conserving water or land,” said ULI Executive Vice President Maureen McAvey. “But it’s clear that regional and local problems with both water quantity and quality will continue without a broad-based cutback in public water consumption and a change in how and where we build. Water infrastructure must be viewed through the lens of sustainable growth.” … “
Continue reading this press release at PR Newswire by clicking here.
Facing suit, pipe maker extends guarantee
Posted by: Maven on April 6, 2010 at 7:07 amFrom the New York Times:
“JM Eagle, fighting to retain sales amid allegations that it knowingly sold defective pipe to municipal water systems, said on Monday that it would guarantee its products for 50 years.
The pledge will cover pipe that is already in the ground, as well as the pipe that JM Eagle will sell in the future, to make it “absolutely clear, in a concrete way, that our product is of the highest quality,\” said Neal Gordon, vice president for marketing.
Previously, the company had guaranteed its products for just one year, and it said the new warranty went far beyond any guarantee offered by its competitors.
A lot of pipe and potentially a lot of money are at stake for JM Eagle and its customers. The company bills itself as the world's largest maker of plastic pipe, having sold enough in the last 10 years to circle the globe 83 times. Less than one-tenth of 1 percent of its pipe installed since 2000 has been the subject of a claim, the company says.
JM Eagle, which is now based in Los Angeles, says the assertions of poor quality, contained in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a former employee, are false and without merit. … “
Continue reading this article from the New York Times by clicking here.
Aging infrastructure and decreased budgets: How local governments can use technology to maximize ROI on infrastructure assets in 2010 and beyond
Posted by: Maven on March 27, 2010 at 7:17 amFrom Water World:
“In today's age of decreasing budgets, the demand for public funding and the competition among local, state, and federal officials for scarce resources generally results in officials making decisions that provide only for the most immediate needs. Decisions about long-term capital expenditures usually get deferred. Often officials do not have the ability to evaluate the risks associated with their decisions and the consequences of deferring maintenance or capital improvements that extend into the future well beyond their time in office.
Technology approaches, which include modeling tools, decision support tools, and rational methodology, can provide decision makers with the ability to prioritize the limited funds available for cost-effective management of their assets. These approaches will provide managers and operations staff with the ability to predict infrastructure rehabilitation/replacement costs well into the future and provide the tools for justifying the funding decisions necessary to meet the desired levels of service. In addition, these approaches guard against rate and tax volatility for utility operations, and reduce more expensive reactive maintenance and equipment downtime. … “
Continue reading from Water World by clicking here.
Saving U.S. water and sewer systems would be costly
Posted by: Maven on March 15, 2010 at 6:56 amFrom the New York Times:
“One recent morning, George S. Hawkins, a long-haired environmentalist who now leads one of the largest and most prominent water and sewer systems, trudged to a street corner here where water was gushing into the air.
A cold snap had ruptured a major pipe installed the same year the light bulb was invented. Homes near the fashionable Dupont Circle neighborhood were quickly going dry, and Mr. Hawkins, who had recently taken over the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority despite having no experience running a major utility, was responsible for fixing the problem.
As city employees searched for underground valves, a growing crowd started asking angry questions. Pipes were breaking across town, and fire hydrants weren't working, they complained. Why couldn't the city deliver water, one man yelled at Mr. Hawkins.
Such questions are becoming common across the nation as water and sewer systems break down. Today, a significant water line bursts on average every two minutes somewhere in the country, according to a New York Times analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data. … “
Continue reading this article from the New York Times by clicking here.
No mere pipe dream: UCI engineers are working on robotic technology to rehabilitate the nation’s aging water infrastructure
Posted by: Maven on February 9, 2010 at 8:02 am
From PhysOrg:
“The growing U.S. infrastructure crisis involves more than crumbling roads and bridges. Underground and out of sight looms a worsening problem every bit as critical.
Thousands of miles of aging water pipes are breaking down. Each day, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers which periodically grades the country's infrastructure 6 billion gallons of clean, treated drinking water disappears, mostly due to old, leaky pipes and mains. That's enough water to supply California for a year, according to Maria Feng, civil & environmental engineering professor at UC Irvine.
“This is a nationwide emergency,\” she says. “Some pipelines are nearly 100 years old, and the problem is very serious, especially in urban areas, where it's difficult to access leaking and burst pipes.
A UCI engineering research team led by Feng is working with two companies to build a prototype robot that could repair and retrofit aging water pipes by applying a tough reinforcement material around their interiors – eliminating the need for costly excavation or replacement. … “
Read more from PhysOrg by clicking here.
Utility infrastructure: Addressing the aging electric and water systems
Posted by: Maven on February 5, 2010 at 7:49 amFrom NASDAQ:
“While the U.S. population in general continues to be enamored by the constant stream of new technology “toys\” being offered on a daily basis, they pay little attention to the technology that powers the gadgets,the nation's electric grid.
And while they spend untold millions of dollars a year on bottled water to drink,which, science is now showing, is often no safer than tap water and thousands of times more expensive, not to mention the ecological disaster of the discarded plastic bottles,they pay little attention to the water that comes into their homes for cooking, showering, and washing clothes and dishes.
In sum, people take the electric grid and the water infrastructure for granted. There is a serious problem with this thinking. These infrastructures were designed for lives of 40 to 50 years, but are both now 100 years old in certain parts of the country. The electric grid is collapsing over our heads, and the water infrastructure is disintegrating below our feet. … “
Read more from NASDAQ by clicking here.
Smart water meters struggle for foothold
Posted by: Maven on January 16, 2010 at 8:03 amFrom the New York Times:
“With many states projecting that they'll face water shortages in the coming years, smart water meters that provide real-time data on water use can help conserve dwindling supplies.
Traditionally, consumers receive monthly or quarterly water bills, long after the resource has disappeared down the drain. If a smart meter could give real-time information on water use through an in-home video display, the hope is that consumers will curb their consumption when they see, for example, just how many gallons that long shower squanders.
Water districts, on the other hand, can tap such information to detect leaks and other problems and quickly make repairs.
And yet, 64 percent of 300 water districts surveyed in Canada and the United States have no plans to roll out a smart meter program, according to a study by Oracle, the business software company. … “
Read more from the New York Times by clicking here.
McCarthy: Fighting for critical infrastructure in our small and rural communities
Posted by: Maven on January 7, 2010 at 8:10 am
From the Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy:
“RIDGECREST, CA : Today, Congressman McCarthy unveiled the Small and Rural Communities Wastewater Infrastructure Act (H.R. 4352) to help address the challenges our small and rural communities are facing. This legislation is designed to help ensure small and rural communities have access to financial resources for critical infrastructure projects.
Congressman Kevin McCarthy (CA-22) issued the following statement:
“These common-sense reforms are designed to help ensure our small and rural communities have the critical infrastructure needed to grow and prosper. I disagree with those in Washington who believe we should only focus on large cities to help grow our way out of our economic challenges. I believe we also need to help ensure America's hardworking small and rural towns have the resources they need to continue to support our nation's jobs and families. Our small towns are growing our nation's crops, producing our nation's energy, providing for our nation's defense, and creating new jobs. … “
Continue reading at Congressman Kevin McCarthy’s website by clicking here.
Robot corps to repair nation’s water mains
Posted by: Maven on December 21, 2009 at 5:38 amFrom Clean Technica:
“With over two million miles of aging water mains to maintain, the U.S. is on the brink of a water supply precipice. A modest project seeded with just a few thousand dollars could go a long way to resolving the crisis, by developing robotic water main repair devices that can work much faster than human crews.
The real kicker is the ability of small robotic devices to reach inside small pipes as well as the larger human-sized water mains. Water supply robots are already in use for inspection purposes. It's a more sustainable approach that would practically eliminate the need to excavate thousands of miles of water mains for repair or replacement. In turn, that would make a significant dent in carbon emissions from earth-moving machines and other utility streetwork. … “
Read more from Clean Technica by clicking here.
Now is exactly the time for government spending in California, says commentary
Posted by: Maven on December 19, 2009 at 4:01 pmFrom Inside the Bay Area, this guest commentary by Oakland resident John Gliss:
“Despite the insistence to the contrary of conservative pundits, now is precisely the time to increase government spending.
Aggressive investment in California’s infrastructure during a down economy stimulates the economy, creates jobs, fosters optimism and, most importantly, provides for much more infrastructure per dollar as work-hungry contractors are bidding significantly lower prices.
In the 1950s and ’60s, Californians spent about 20 percent of the state budget on capital projects including highways, canals, water treatment plants, dams, parks, and University of California and California State University campuses.
Today, infrastructure spending is less than 2 percent of the state budget. In 2006, the American Society of Engineers developed an Infrastructure Report Card for California, and awarded our crumbling infrastructure an average grade of “C-minus.”
Not only does well-designed, well-constructed and well-maintained infrastructure improve our quality of life, but it is essential to our economic competitiveness. Maritime ports, airports, rail and highway systems are critical for fast and efficient goods movement and state-of-the-art universities attract the best and the brightest to our state. … “
Read more of this commentary by clicking here.
Water woes a product of inadequate funding for infrastructure upgrades
Posted by: Maven on December 9, 2009 at 8:27 amFrom Food & Water Watch:
“Washington, D.C. “Today's New York Times article on violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act underscores the profound challenges facing municipalities around the country in delivering safe, clean water to residents. Yet, it should not be taken as a reason to condemn the public ownership of local water systems, nor should it erode public faith in government's ability to safeguard this essential resource. If anything, it highlights a need for government to be more responsive to the water crisis facing many municipalities across the country.
“It comes as little surprise that much of the data cited in the article came from a time when our nation's water systems were under the so-called protection of the Bush administration, which maintained a notoriously poor track record for upholding public health standards. Eighty-two percent of the violations mentioned in the article were in systems that serve fewer than 3,300 people. Fining communities that fail to meet clean water standards is no way of making sure that water quality issues are addressed, or that standards of quality are reached. In fact, doing so would only worsen the financial capacity of small towns to improve their water systems. … “
Read more from the Food & Water Watch by clicking here.
Recipe for 700,000 new, green American jobs? Just add water
Posted by: Maven on October 15, 2009 at 8:24 amFrom the National Hydropower Association:
“The U.S. hydropower industry is ready to lead the country in the creation of 700,000 family-supporting jobs by 2025 as it helps steer the United States toward energy security and a clean, renewable energy future.
Hydropower can add 60,000MW of clean, renewable energy to the nation's electric grid by 2025. That's enough to serve 17 million households : the equivalent of all the homes in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago combined.
The findings prompted Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell to call on policymakers to support development of hydropower, America's largest renewable energy resource. “It's time to invest in renewable energy resources that generate electricity in this country and that provide jobs for Americans. Hydropower presents elected officials across the country an opportunity to bring thousands of long-term, family-wage jobs to our states.
Voith Hydro CEO Mark Garner agreed. “This study confirms what our experience at Voith Hydro has already shown : investments in hydropower lead directly to good-paying, long-lasting American jobs. We have seen 27 percent growth in permanent employees in the past two years, and as the hydropower industry continues to grow, we have a huge potential to create additional clean, family-wage jobs across the United States. …”
Read more of this press release by clicking here.
California waterloo : Tide of debt may shift from General Fund to water users
Posted by: Maven on October 6, 2009 at 7:03 amFrom IndyBay.org, this commentary by Patrick Porgans, Solutionist, of Porgans & Associates, Inc.:
“On October 1, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer released the 2009 Debt Affordability Report. The report finds that, “further increasing the General Fund's debt burden, especially in the next three difficult budgets, would require cutting even deeper into crucial services already reeling from billions of dollars in reductions.” The Treasurer therefore found that water infrastructure should be paid for by users, not the General Fund.
Have “we the people\” been laboring under a misapprehension or can it be that someone in political office has finally come to his senses. For almost a decade Porgans & Associates (P&A) have voiced concerns about the rising General Fund debt being incurred by Californians to bailout State Water Project (SWP) and other water users. P&A diligently reminded Californians and the “leadership\” of the fact that the SWP was sold on the premise that it would pay-for-itself; the beneficiaries, water and power users would pay.
Furthermore, the SWP was also promoted on the premise it would unify the State. The record shows it has done neither. Conversely, the SWP is at the core of the Delta Collapse and the State's never-ending water wars.
Treasurer Bill Lockyer's recent epiphany that water infrastructure should be paid by users is a far-flung cry from his support and position on General Fund/General Obligation Bond funding for water users when he was Senate Pro Tem, back in the 1990s. It was at that time, Proposition 204, the first of a series of General Obligation Bonds, ultimately totaling more than $18 billion were launched. Repayment of GO Bonds comes out of the General Fund. …”
Read more from IndyBay.org by clicking here.
Dollars and sense: How we pay for water
Posted by: Maven on October 5, 2009 at 6:46 am
The Water Education Foundation’s latest issue of Western Water examines financing of water infrastructure, both at the local level and from the statewide perspective, and some of the factors that influence how people receive their water, the price they pay for it and how much they might have to pay in the future:
“It's no secret that providing water in a state with the size and climate of California costs money. The gamut of water-related infrastructure : from reservoirs like Lake Oroville to the pumps and pipes that deliver water to homes, businesses and farms : incurs initial and ongoing expenses. Throw in a new spate of possible mega-projects, such as those designed to rescue the ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and the dollar amount grows exponen tially to billion-dollar amounts that rival the entire gross national product of a small country.
Who pays for this Everyone does, individually and collectively. From the urban centers to the most remote farmlands, water comes at a cost, and as long as people have needed access to a clean, reliable source of water, there has been virtually no hurdle too large to ensure the viability of cities and farms, no matter how dry the climate. The reliability of water causes people to think it will always be there, like the air we breathe.
“We are spoiled,\” said Univer sity of Arizona law Professor Robert Glennon, author of the book, Un quenchable: America's Water Crisis and What to Do About It, in an interview with Arizona radio station KJZZ July 15. “We get up in the morning and turn on the tap and there is a limit less supply of fresh water for less than we pay for cell phone service or cable television.
Today, the question of who pays for water is much more complex than years past. Several factors affect the price, starting with the basics of what it takes to bring water from its source to the tap. In some areas the distance is minimal; in others water travels hundreds of miles through a vast net work. Many people receive their water at a metered rate, with some paying significantly more if their water use goes beyond designated levels. Others pay a flat fee no matter how much they use. Ultimately, Glennon said, water itself is as free as the air we breathe.
“The reality now is we pay zero for water,\” he said. “What we pay for is the delivery and treatment. There is no cost for the commodity itself. …”
Continue reading this excerpt at the Water Education Foundation website by clicking here.
Friday’s top of the scroll: Old American dams quietly become a multibillion-dollar threat
Posted by: Maven on August 28, 2009 at 8:32 am
From Wired Science:
“Last week, a Siberian hydroelectric dam failed when an explosion rocked the site's turbine room, killing dozens and taking 6,000 megawatts of electricity offline.
While the tragedy's ultimate causes are unclear, Russian media has been questioning the state of the aging Soviet-made infrastructure. Dams are getting older in the United States, too. The average age of America's 80,000 dams is 51 years. More than 2,000 dams near population centers are in need of repair, according to statistics released this month by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.
Last year, 140 dams were fixed, but inspectors discovered 368 more that need help. That's why the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our dams a grade of “D\” in its 2009 report on the nation's infrastructure. There are just too many aging dams and too few safety inspectors.
“With the huge number of dams getting older every day, it's becoming a bigger and bigger problem,\” said Larry Roth, deputy executive director of the ASCE. “The policing of maintenance and filing of inspection records is relatively haphazard, not because of lack of focus or knowledge of significance, but they just don't have the monetary resources to do it.
The Association of State Dam Safety Officials estimate that $16 billion would be needed to fix all high-hazard dams. The total for all state dam-safety budgets is less than $60 million. The current maintenance budget doesn't match the scale of America's long-term modifications of its watersheds. …”
Read more from Wired Science by clicking here.
Community Commentary: Flushing maintains quality in water system
Posted by: Maven on August 22, 2009 at 9:22 amFrom the Glendale News Press, this commentary by Vasken Yardemian, president of the Crescenta Valley Water District Board of Directors:
“Regarding the Aug. 21 letter by Bruce Gibson, “Water district not exactly conserving,\” he wrote that he observed Crescenta Valley Water District servicemen flushing the water main at a fire hydrant near his home.
Your first thought may be that we are ignoring our own philosophy of conserving water. However, it is necessary to flush water mains in the system, particularly ones that are not “looped\” or connected in such a way that water continually flows through these pipes.
Although it may appear to waste water, fire hydrants flushing is a routine preventive maintenance program required to remove sediments that may have accumulated inside the distribution system. This is one of the methods used by the water districts to maintain a high water quality throughout the distribution system. …”
Read more from the Glendale News Press by clicking here.
UCI engineers watch over the water system; New sensors are designed to monitor pipes after earthquakes and other disasters
Posted by: Maven on August 20, 2009 at 8:13 am
From U.C. Irvine:
“After a big earthquake, it’s key to keep the water system afloat. Water is necessary for life, and it fights the fires that often accompany such disasters.
UC Irvine engineers plan to outfit the local water system with sensors that will alert officials when and where pipes crack or break, hastening repair – thanks to nearly $5.7 million over three years from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and several local water groups.
“When an earthquake occurs and infrastructure systems fail, continued service of the water network is most critical,” said Masanobu Shinozuka, lead project investigator and civil & environmental engineering chair. “Before anything happens, I’d like to have a pipe monitoring system in place to let us know when and where damage occurs. It could minimize misery and save lives.” …”
Read more from U. C. Irvine by clicking here. Hat tip to the Sisweb!
Pay for it if you drink it, says editorial: Users should pay, but management benefits us all
Posted by: Maven on August 17, 2009 at 8:36 amFrom Stockton’s Record, this editorial:
“The state is pushing forward with studies and on-the-ground surveys that indicate – or at least give the impression – that a peripheral canal is in our future.
The question is how to pay for such a canal or, for that matter, any other project to protect the estuary. The state is broke. We’ve passed bond after bond that must be paid back with ever increasing amounts of money from the state general fund. And the federal government is an unreliable tooth fairy at best.
But there is a way to get the money, a new study by the Public Policy Institute of California says. In a nutshell: He who benefits pays.
You want Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water Southern California, buy it. By the thimble full. Same with you folks in the Bay Area and you farmers in the parched southern San Joaquin Valley. …”
Read more of this editorial from the Record by clicking here.
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