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DC: The Environmental Protection Agency moved Tuesday to clarify Clean Water Act protections for small streams and wetlands that had been thrown into question by Supreme Court decisions over the past decade. The agency and the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a rule that would help farmers, ranchers, developers and others understand which streams and wetlands retain Clean Water Act protections. In particular, the rule is aimed at small waterways that may dry up during some seasons, exist only after rains or are adjacent to other waters.access.

Aging Infrastructure

Florida: The city of Sarasota’s sewer system took center stage at Monday’s commission meeting.  The board approving a more than $600,000 contract to repair aging sewer pipes.  Its all part of an ongoing effort to replace a systems, many says is vulnerable to massive spills.

Vermont: An Associated Press review of federal data nationwide found that 7,795 bridges around the country were deemed both structurally deficient and “fracture critical.” Five of those troubled bridges were in Vermont.

Texas: Two main water lines burst in Big Spring, which led to some students taking the day off. “This is really the first major leak we’ve had in six months. The strange thing, is we’ve had two of them in one day,” Big Spring Environmental Service Assistant Director, Johnny Womack, said.

New Jersey: A contractor digging on River Road punctured a 30-inch water main Tuesday, interrupting water service to the Teaneck campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University and about 100 residential customers in the area, authorities said..

Missouri: It looked like a Geyser was erupting Tuesday morning on New Town Boulevard in St. Charles. The cover blew off the underground valve of a 16 inch main, sending water gushing 30 feet high at the Fountain Lakes Commerce Center.

Massachusetts: The management of the Quincy YMCA says it had no choice but to shut its doors after a water main break flooded its old building. The break sent thousands of gallons of water gushing into the basement, destroying all of its electrical and ventilation systems.

Michigan:  Ann Arbor officials say an “obstruction of grease and oil” caused an eight-inch sewer line to back up, spilling about 100 gallons of raw sewage out of a manhole cover on Pauline Boulevard and into an inlet to the city’s stormwater system. At 10:15 a.m. Monday, a member of the city’s solid waste field services team reported water leaking from the manhole cover on Pauline.