Top Stories

Texas: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst says water will be high on his agenda, advocating taking $1 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to create a water infrastructure development bank from which cities and counties could borrow for water projects. But can members of the state legislature be convinced to dip into the fund?

Mississippi: Ending months of negotiations, the city of Jackson and Siemens have agreed to a $90 million deal to upgrade water and sewer systems in Jackson, Miss. Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. has called it the largest infrastructure project in the city’s history.

New Hampshire: Will the town of Exeter share its water and wastewater infrastructure with Stratham. A final report put together by the Rockingham Planning Commission and Kleinfelder Engineering urges the two towns to engage in more serious discussions about entering into an inter-municipal agreement to share services. Discussions continue, but officials would like to see more analysis any deals are struck.

Vermont: New clean water coalition calls on lawmakers to upgrade infrastructure. A group of environmental organizations and local businesses are banding together to call on lawmakers to protect Vermont’s waterways. Dubbing themselves the “Blue Resolution Coalition,” the 32-member group made its Statehouse debut this morning prior to the start of the 2013 legislative session.

Failing Systems

Michigan: The city of Kalamazoo is finishing cleaning the sewage overflow on Wednesday that was detected last week near Gull Road in a wetland near Nazareth Road. More than 300,000 gallons of sewage spilled in wetlands near Gull and Nazareth Road. There have been two other sewage overflows in the past week.

Texas: The San Antonio Water system are reporting that a large sewer overflow on January 9 was caused by heavy rains. The sewer main,  located between Texas Highway 151 east of Military Drive West downstream along Leon Creek to Marbach Road, has resulted in a spill of greater than 100,000 gallons.

Texas: Some homeowners in Sachse fear that a sewage spill could make them sick.Raw sewage flowed from the drainpipes under Cornwall Lane, below railroad tracks, and then under Highway 78, about 100 yards away.

Kentucky: The latest Louisville Water Co. water main breaks that are causing road closures also resulted in tens of thousands of gallons of raw sewage to spill into Beargrass Creek, according to the Metropolitan Sewer District. The drinking water temporarily overwhelmed the sewer system, causing spills from combined sewer and storm water discharge points.

Pennsylvania: Repairs are underway after 6-inch water main broke in Beechview on January 9. It happened around 12:30 a.m. in the 700-block of Wenzell Avenue, flooding several houses. At least six homes reportedly had water in their basements, some as much as several feet.

Colorado: The Boulder County Courthouse office complex on downtown Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall was closed to the public on January 9 because of a January 8 afternoon water line break.  The closing is expected to continue through at least through Friday, Jan. 11 while crews work to restore water service to the old Courthouse building at 1325 Pearl St. and the adjacent east and west wings. All downtown Boulder County offices and services will still be accessible by telephone and email, county officials said.

Illinois: Colchester Mayor Danny Bice last week once again found himself stuck in hole — a water main hole, that is. For the third time since October, the mayor, who happens to be a licensed plumber, stepped up to repair a water main break in the northwest section of town.

Massachusettes: The Haverhill campus of Northern Essex Community College is closed due to a water main break — the latest in a series of such breaks to hit the city. The campus will reopen tomorrow at noon.

Minnesota: Recent water-main breaks that released millions of gallons of water onto streets in Duluth and Minneapolis have focused attention on aging underground pipes that are common in other cities as well.  In Duluth, a water main break poured 3 million gallons of water onto downtown streets New Year’s Day. The city spends about $2.3 million each year to fix breaks and leaks in the city’s 426 miles of underground pipes, half of which are more than 80 years old, Mayor Don Ness said.

Georgia: The messy commute on a stretch of Clairmont Road damaged after a major water main break over the weekend could continue until Thursday. Repairs have been ongoing since the water main broke early Saturday in the 3900 block of Clairmont near Chamblee, damaging a two-block stretch of the road and sidewalks.

Washington: Portions of State Route 20 in Port Townsend are shut down due to a large water main break early Sunday morning, police said.  Police and Port Townsend Public Works crews responded to a report of a water main break around 3 a.m. in front of the Tides Inn and Suites at 1807 Water Street. When crews arrived to the location, they found water running down the road.