Photo by Luetta Callaway Lake Mead intake extension will connect to a newly finished, half-mile-long, $52-million stub tunnel. Southern Nevada Water Authority Expanded intake network is aimed at drawing more water at deeper levels from the shrinking lake. Drought-racked Las Vegas is undertaking an emergency project to keep water flowing as Lake Mead’s capacity dips below 40%.The Southern Nevada Water Authority has planned a $12-million extension to its 42-year-old raw-water Intake No. 1, which faces inoperability if the lake level falls 40 ft. Federal forecasters expect that to occur by May 2015 or sooner because of an abnormally dry winter.Lake
Photo by AP Wideworld Red worms appeared in a small town's water supply after flies slipped through sand filters. Related Links: Oklahoma City To Upgrade Its Water, Wastewater Networks Video: Don't Drink the Water Residents in Colcord, Okla., are still observing a water-use advisory as town officials flush out tiny red worms that made their way into the city's drinking-water supply last month.The town's approximately 800 residents and local businesses were told not to use tap water for cooking or drinking and, instead, use bottled water until state and local officials are certain the worm problem has been resolved.The red
Related Links: Price Tag for Bay Delta Water Plan Swells to $24.5 billion Bay Delta Conservation Plan Homepage The California Dept. of Water Resources has revised again the state's proposed plan to convey water from the northern part of the state to the southern part. The proposed changes, released on Aug. 15, would shrink by 50% the total permanent footprint of the project and shift more than 400 acres of permanent and temporary construction impacts from private to public lands.The $25-billion draft Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) for California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has gone through a number of changes over
Built in 1972, the Inga I dam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo does not operate at capacity due to lack of maintenance. At this dam site and at a newer one, replacement of aging turbines has been on hold for a decade due to a lack of financing. Related Links: The World Bank-Africa region The Democratic Republic of the Congo has launched a new initiative to fast-track construction of the delayed $12-billion Inga III hydropower project on Africa's Congo River despite skepticism that the project may never be implemented.The World Bank, however, appears more supportive of a new
Photo Courtesy DC Water The vessels for the Cambi thermal hydrolysis system, the first to be built in the U.S., are up but won't be operational until 2014. Related Links: Blue Plains Embarks on Three Innovative Environmental Projects Chesapeake Bay Remains at Risk Washington water and sewer utility DC Water is considering using green infrastructure to reduce the size or possibly replace two planned tunnels that would be constructed underneath parts of the city's Georgetown neighborhood and along the Potomac River waterfront.The decision is part of the "Clean Rivers, Green District" agreement—formalized in December 2012 between the U.S. Environmental Protection
Related Links: Big Africa Projects Face Legal Battles, Community Protests Italian construction firm Salini SpA received a major blow to its Africa expansion plans when, late in June, Namibia's high court overturned its $280-million construction contract for the Neckartal Dam.The court ordered the contract to be rebid after a successful challenge by one losing bidder, CSC Neckartal Dam, a consortium made up of South African, Italian and Lebanese firms.The rebid will be the project's third attempt at contract award since 2011, says a published report in Africa.Namibia is constructing the dam on the Fish River, 40 kilometers west of Keetmanshoop,
Related Links: Salt River Project's Horse Mesa Dam Video Tour of Horse Mesa Dam Saturation divers, working one at a time, have begun a repair project on a pumped-storage hydroelectric system at Horse Mesa Dam on the Salt River in central Arizona. The repair will reestablish 115 megawatts of peak-load generating capacity that was lost 13 months ago, when failure of a guide vane sent about 50 tons of concrete shooting down the penstock serving the turbines."It is our largest hydro-generation asset on the Salt River," says Roger Baker, principal engineer for hydro-generation at the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation's
Photo Courtesy of WSSC Two D.C. utility employees needed 12 hours to close a badly corroded pipeline valve. Related Links: Heroes in Hardhats: The Men Who Kept the Water Flowing in Prince George's A last-ditch effort on July 16 by two Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission technicians to close a stubborn, corrosion-covered valve for water-pipeline diversion enabled the Washington, D.C., area water-wastewater utility to bypass the rapidly failing main. Closing the valve averted an extended service outage in a densely populated section during excessively hot weather.The 54-in.-dia reinforced-concrete high-pressure transmission line, installed in 1966, supplies 10 million to 15 million gallons
Image courtesy California American Water The 106-ft-tall San Clemente Dam has is at risk of failure during an earthquake or probable maximum flood. Image courtesy California American Water Crews will divert the river and leave tons of sediment in place. Related Links: Elwha River Restoration Project Involves Largest Dam Removal Effort in U.S. History As Funds Line Up, a Tall Dam In California Will Come Down California's largest-ever dam removal project will take advantage of the area's unique topography to allow builders to divert permanently the Carmel River into a new channel.Built in 1921 about 18.5 miles upstream of the
Photo By Jeff McIntosh/Associated Press Crews prepare to pump petroleum diluent from railcars stranded on the buckled Calgary bridge into other cars securely placed on a parallel bridge. Related Links: Train Derails on Collapsing Bridge (Video) CP Officials Say Bonnybrook Bridge Had Been Inspected 18 Times Since Flooding Premier Alison Redford says it will take Alberta, Canada, a decade and $5 billion to recover and rebuild from a once-in-a-century flood that tore through the southern portion of the province on June 20. Damage was extensive in Calgary, where a state of emergency extended into July as floodwaters receded.Tens of thousands
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