Photo Courtesy of MWH The existing intake (above) will be replaced by the new, state-of-the-art intake and fish screen (below) which will be built along the Sacramento River. Photo Courtesy of MWH Related Links: Drought in Western U.S. Has Water Utilities Considering a Range of Solutions A new project for the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency to replace deteriorating groundwater supplies with more-reliable surface water from the Sacramento River in California broke ground in April.CH2M Hill won a $141-million contract to design, build and operate a new treatment plant; raw-water pipelines, connecting a new intake on the Sacramento River to the
Photo Courtesy of San Diego County Water Authority The roller-compacted concrete, placed in layers, used less time and water than conventional concrete to produce. Related Links: Drought in Western U.S. Has Water Utilities Considering a Range of Solutions Construction on the world's largest dam-raise project of its kind wrapped up this summer, providing the San Diego County Water Authority with an additional 152,000 acre-ft of water, more than doubling the capacity of the St. Vincente reservoir.The project involved removing two inches from the surface of the original St. Vincente dam, then using roller-compacted concrete to add—in layers, one on top
Photo by Matthew Kraus/flickr Cars awash on 15th Street in lower Manhattan, New York City, during Superstorm Sandy. Related Links: Flood Risk Management: Call for a national strategy ASCE's Post Katrina Statement: What Must We Do Next A task force of the American Society of Civil Engineers, formed to assess the nation's response to the ASCE's eight years of repeated, urgent calls to improve flood risk management as a national priority, delivered its report on Sept. 22 with the finding that there has been only limited progress.But the ASCE committee delivered an analysis of why progress is lacking and, significantly,
Related Links: Whooshh Pneumatic Fish Handling System Features VIDEO: John Oliver Discovers the Salmon Cannon (Youtube) Volitional fish Entry Feasibiliity Study Wild and hatchery-spawned fish are commingled in this fall's Chinook salmon run on the Washougal River in southwestern Washington state. The state Dept. of Fish and Wildlife wants them separated and has turned to an engineered solution for help.Whooshh Innovations, Bellevue, Wash., is trapping migrating salmon, manually culling marked ones from hatcheries and, from the river, shooting them live through a pneumatic tube, up a high bank and into tanker trucks. The peak so far is 400 fish a
Photo Courtesy of Ganga Action Parivar The Ganges River, India's holiest river, is also it's dirtiest. Officials vow to clean it up within three years. Related Links: Indian Water Resources Ministry webpage The 100-day-old government’s newly established minister for water resources, Uma Bharti, on Sept. 15 committed to cleaning up India’s largest and holiest river, the 2,500-kilometer-plus Ganges, within three years.The Ganga Action Plan was released by Bharti’s predecessors two decades ago but barely accomplished any of its goals.The pledge comes at an opportune time. The population of people and industrial units in India near the Ganges is ballooning, creating
+ Image Source: South Florida Water Management District Many projects are planned to restore the Indian River Lagoon, but the C-44 reservoir system is the first. Related Links: Everglades Progress Report Shows Modest Improvements Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan Protecting one of the biologically most diverse estuary systems in the continental U.S. is the goal of a Florida project now in the earliest stage of development. On Aug. 14, Shoreline Foundation Inc., West Park, Fla., won the contract to construct the C-44 system discharge for the C-44 reservoir and stormwater treatment area in Martin County, Fla., a major component of the
Photo courtesy of Kelly Huston, Office of the Governor, California State lawmakers circle around California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who signed water infrastructure legislation that state voters will consider on the November ballot. Related Links: Information on AB 1471 Natural Resources Defense Council report on water supply solutions to drought in California Construction and engineering groups are upbeat about a $7.5-billion water bond measure on the California ballot in November.“We see nothing but good coming from the water bond, driven in large part by the years of neglect of our water system” in California, says Tom Holsman, CEO of the
Image: Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium Scientists in Louisiana say the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico is three times the target set by a federal-state task force in 2001. Related Links: Ohio statewide harmful algae bloom response strategy Information on NRDC lawsuit The recent drinking-water crisis brought on by algae blooms has put Toledo's water-quality troubles on the national stage. The issue is common: Runoff from urban and agricultural areas and wastewater treatment plants create hypoxia, or algae blooms, that choke oxygen for fish and other aquatic life and trap toxins, which can poison the water."Currently, we are seeing
Photo courtesy of LADWP The break occurred at a Y-joint, requiring crews to remove and replace 76 ft of the old pipe and added two new, 4,000-lb, 36-in.-diameter butterfly valves. Photo courtesy of LADWP The burst 30-in., riveted steel pipe spilled an estimated 20 million gallons of water and flooded the UCLA campus and Sunset Boulevard. Related Links: Water Pipeline Designed to Surf Seismic Waves AECOM Wins Fight to Oversee $1.6B Miami-Dade Sewer Repairs A week after a 93-yr-old water trunk line rupture in Los Angeles sent an estimated 20 million gallons of water gushing over the UCLA campus and
Related Links: Link to consent decree East Bay MUD's statement on settlement Communities surrounding California’s San Francisco Bay will invest some $1.5 billion over the next 21 years to upgrade 1,500 miles of sewer-system infrastructure as a result of a consent decree lodged in federal court on July 28.The Clean Water Settlement was hammered out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the East Bay Municipal Water District (EBMUD) and seven East Bay communities: Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont and the Stege sanitary district.The agreement resolves a lawsuit the EPA and the California State Water Resources Control Board filed, in
RSS
