March 2006



"Mexico Hosts Water Conference Amid Its Poor, Aging System"
"GE Electric Co. to Acquire Zenon for $656M"
"East Bay MUD Delivers $4.3M Check for Pipeline"
"Hach Co. Acquires Flow Measurement Firm"
"Hollow Fiber Ultrafiltration Replaces Pathogenic 'Water Worries' With Peace of Mind"
"China's Water Shortage May Spur Rural Unrest, Threaten Growth"
"Encompassing the Advantages of a SCADA System"
"Asset Management Streamlines Water Agency"



"We Can't Afford to Take Our Water Quality for Granted"
"Supreme Court Cases Threaten Scope of Clean Water Act"
"For a Cup of Clean Water"



"National Infrastructure Improvement Act Introduced"
"Senators Voinovich, Carper and Clinton Introduce Infrastructure Improvement Bill"
"State Targets Contaminant"
"Scientists, Policymakers Discuss Water Resources"
"Town Signs Sewage Agreement With Jersey City"
"A New $100 Million Hurdle"
"Safe River Swim Goal of $2M State Plan"
"State House Approves Bill Reviewing Detroit Water Rates"

Mexico Hosts Water Conference Amid Its Poor, Aging System
Salt Lake Tribune (UT) (03/13/06) ; Stevenson, Mark

Mexico City is burdened with floods, water shortages, increasing sewage, and declining water tables. Massive pumps work around the clock to get rid of the sewage water that inundates the bowl in which Mexico City resides. Many of the city's 20 million residents only get one hour of running water each week, while nearly all of its abundant rainfall runs unused down sewers, forming a huge flow of wastewater that the city's handful of treatment plants cannot handle. The city has paved over its rivers and converted them into underground sewers or expressways -- sometimes simultaneously -- while pumping so much water from underground aquifers that certain neighborhoods sink by as much as one foot annually. City water pipes are leaky, low-pressured, and frequently dry, so each home must have an underground storage tank and a system to pump the water up to a rooftop storage tank from which the water flows down. On March 16, the fourth World Water Forum will convene in Mexico City. Participants will discuss how water can be harnessed for expansion, be offered more efficiently, better benefit those who are impoverished, be employed environmentally, and be kept from creating natural disasters.
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GE Electric Co. to Acquire Zenon for $656M
WaterTech Online (03/14/06)

General Electric Co. will acquire Zenon Environmental Inc., a water treatment equipment maker in Canada, for $656 million. The acquisition will help GE's Water and Process Technologies unit expand its growing water business. Zenon's advanced membrane technologies will allow GE to help customers address water scarcity issues and expand GE's role in the high-growth areas of the municipal water segment. The transaction will require the approval of regulators and Zenon's shareholders.
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East Bay MUD Delivers $4.3M Check for Pipeline
Amador Ledger Dispatch (CA) (03/10/06) ; Reece, Jim

Construction of the Amador (Calif.) Transmission Pipeline came a step closer recently with the delivery of a $4.34 million check to the Amador Water Agency Board of Directors from East Bay Municipal Utilities. Another $23.6 million from bond sale proceeds will help build the pipeline from Lake Tabeaud to the Tanner Water Treatment Plant as well assist with other water system upgrades. The project is being overseen by Ranger Pipeline. Ranger chose three sites for the construction staging area, based on good road access--through an existing ranch road--and its availability to utilities access.
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Hach Co. Acquires Flow Measurement Firm
WaterTech Online (03/09/06)

Hach Co. has acquired Marsh-McBirney, a Maryland-based company specializing in flow measuring devices. Marsh-McBirney developed the Flo-Dar Flowmeter, a sewer monitoring device that provides accurate velocity and flow measurements without making contact with sewage. Hach, based in Loveland, CO, specializes in analytical systems for water quality testing.
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Hollow Fiber Ultrafiltration Replaces Pathogenic 'Water Worries' With Peace of Mind
PRNewswire (03/07/06)

More than half of all new homes in the U.S. and Canada are being built in areas without municipal water and sewage infrastructure, leaving them especially vulnerable to biological contamination from source groundwater and surface water used for drinking. Increasingly common breaks in municipal water delivery lines raise the possibility of contamination of centrally treated water as it travels to homes. Water safety concerns include threats of biological terrorism and recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Other "water worries" spring from deaths and illnesses caused by E. coli, Cryptosporidium, Legionella and other waterborne pathogens. Additionally, environmental groups, public safety organizations and regulatory agencies have become concerned with the hazards posed by disinfection byproducts and other unwanted chemicals in the water supply. "Aquacore protects the whole home's water environment from biological contaminants," says Neil Oliver, president of Aquacore, marketers of the residential ultrafiltration system that bring an uninterrupted stream of bottled quality drinking water to every tap in the house. "It's like having a bottled water plant in your house that doesn't waste water, compared with less-efficient reverse osmosis units. Aquacore removes health threats from pathogens including bacteria, viruses and cysts, without removing the minerals you want in the water. We feel it's an essential environmental protection system for today's healthy home."
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China's Water Shortage May Spur Rural Unrest, Threaten Growth
Bloomberg (02/23/06)

Growing Chinese cities' thirst for water is taking it away from farmers, provoking rural water shortages that could reduce harvests, slow the country's economic expansion, and prompt civil unrest. President Hu Jintao's goals of facilitating sustainable growth and cutting down on social inequality will require the guarantee of sufficient water supplies to rural areas, and the government is working on a $62 billion project to move water from southern and central China to arid northern provinces. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security reports that the number of protests involving more than 100 people totaled 74,000 in 2004--compared to 10,000 a decade earlier--although the ministry would not say how many were related to water. "Water is tied to the livelihoods of rural residents," says Hans Kunnen of the Australian fund manager Colonial First State, which has holdings in several Chinese companies; "If it's not distributed fairly," he says, "it will limit the rural community's earning ability and limit China's long-term economic growth potential." China's Ministry of Water Resources says that the country is already relatively dry, with an amount of water per person that is just a quarter of the world average. Thirty-four percent of China's water was used by factories and urban residents in 2004--compared to 25 percent in 1998--and grain production declined 8.4 percent during that period. Water shortages are being made even worse by pollution from factories, according to the United Nations Environment Program's Marcus Lee, who has written a study on China's water supply. The water ministry reports that 70 percent of China's rivers are contaminated by toxins; in November, a spill of nitrobenzene at a PetroChina refinery led to the resignation of the country's environmental chief.
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Encompassing the Advantages of a SCADA System
Water & Wastes Digest (02/06) Vol. 46, No. 2, P. 18 ; Boardman, Robert

The city of Riverside, Calif., has improved its operation, maintenance, and customer service via the installation of a new supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for monitoring and controlling its 95 water supply, treatment, storage, and distribution facilities. In addition, the system allows for rapid response to emergencies. The city's SCADA system incorporates design drawings and specifications from MWH, whose principal engineer Yitzhak Nevo served as project manager for developing and managing the project's design and construction. Designing the SCADA system began with a needs analysis to determine the city's operational, control, and monitoring requirements; the next step was a communication study that recommended using spread spectrum radio for the SCADA system's communication network. "The new SCADA system ensures our water customers reliable service and helps our field engineers service and maintain equipment efficiently," said Randell Carder, the city's senior water controls system technician/supervisor. "Additionally, by switching the communication system from leased telephone lines to a radio communication system, the city saves about $60,000 annually," he said. The city's system uses Dynac SCADA software on dual redundant hot-standby servers, with the standby server able to automatically and seamlessly take over for a failed primary server without affecting the continuity of system operation. The redundant servers use a fast Ethernet LAN to communicate with an RAS server and multiple PC workstations, two of which are located at the city Utilities Operation Center's emergency dispatch center to provide for fast, around-the-clock response to emergencies.
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Asset Management Streamlines Water Agency
Water & Wastes Digest (02/06) Vol. 46, No. 2, P. 20 ; Lee, Dr. Robert P.

Sacramento County, Calif.'s Fair Oaks Water District has replaced its time-consuming paper-based asset management system with the Accela Asset Management automated software system, enabling the district to centralize work orders, preventative maintenance, and valuation. "With an automated system that is accessible to everyone in the agency, we are able to evaluate the status of work in progress out in the field, as well as the condition of vehicles and equipment, accurately and quickly," said district purchasing agent Robyn Evans. Among the information the system makes accessible to multiple departments within the agency is data on hydrants, valves, water mains, meters, backflow devices, and staff. Staff members say that reporting and researching has become much more speedy and accurate, with reports that once took an hour or more now doable in just minutes.
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We Can't Afford to Take Our Water Quality for Granted
Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter (Wis.) (03/05/06)

Runoff has not only forced the closure of Wisconsin beaches along Lake Michigan but also threatens the state's clean drinking water supply. Recent reports of contaminated water in Morrison show just how fragile the environment is and how threatened it is by pollutants from power, manufacturing, and fertilizer plants as well as construction sites, lawns, and parking lots, not to mention manure in this dairy region. Six communities of the Brown County Water Authority have been forced to spend a total of more than $100 million to pipe clean drinking water via a 42-mile conduit from Manitowoc simply because they cannot provide the water themselves.
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Supreme Court Cases Threaten Scope of Clean Water Act
Natural Resources Defense Council (02/21/06)

The Supreme Court on Feb. 21 was set to hear arguments in two cases involving the Clean Water Act that could determine if all the waters in the United States or only those suitable for commercial vessels and wetlands and streams immediately adjacent to them are covered under the federal law. The petitioners are developers in Michigan who want to destroy wetlands to make room for a condominium and shopping mall development. They are asking the high court to overturn previous court decisions and if successful, about 60 percent of the total length of all streams in the United States, not including Alaska, surface water providing drinking water for upwards of 110 million Americans, and more than 20 million acres of wetlands in the continental U.S. could be excluded from Clean Water Act mandates. A huge group of state attorneys general, environmental groups, federal lawmakers, and other experts and organizations are lining up behind the Bush administration's opposition to the appeal. If the court rules that the Clean Water Act only applies to waterways suitable for commercial navigation and their immediately adjacent wetlands and streams, states would have to enact their own laws providing protection to drinking water supplies. "Streams and wetlands are the lifeblood of America's waterways," said Christy Leavitt, PIRG Clean Water Advocate "To clean up treasured waters like the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay, these source waters must remain protected by the Clean Water Act."
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For a Cup of Clean Water
Opinion Editorials (Frontiers of Freedom) (02/28/06) ; Marsala, Kerry L.

Americans sometimes take it for granted that they live in a country where clean drinking water is a basic human right and where the government does all it can to ensure that right is observed. But no so in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's reign, says Kerry Marsala, co-publisher of Sara's Seed Journal. Under the dictator's rule, the water systems of cities surrounding Baghdad were allowed to decay, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to turn to nearby canals. The new Iraqi government with the help of coalition forces is trying to reverse all that. The Kaa Kaa Water Treatment plant was recently completed in the Baghdad area along with the renovation of the SheShibar Booster Station, which pumps and directs the water, and repair of the broken feeder line, which was ruptured by an "insurgent" attack. In the nearby town of Al Muhawil, a new water treatment plant was just opened, providing a million cubic litters of water a day. Another one in the town is slated for opening later this year.
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National Infrastructure Improvement Act Introduced
WaterWeek (03/13/06)

Legislation was introduced March 8 in the U.S. Senate to address the deteriorating conditions of the nation's drinking water systems, roads, and other public works by establishing a National Commission on the Infrastructure of the United States and charging it with completing a study of current conditions and recommending federal priorities in three years. The National Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2006 was co-sponsored by Senators George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, Thomas Carper, D-Del., and Hillary R. Clinton D-N.Y., and was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The legislation defines infrastructure as nonmilitary facilities including water supply and distribution systems, wastewater collection and treatment facilities, surface transportation facilities, mass-transit facilities, airports or airway facilities, resource recovery facilities, waterways, levees and related flood-control facilities, docks or ports, school buildings, and solid-waste disposal facilities. The commission must submit to Congress in February 2009 a report that details infrastructure legislation and administrative actions deemed necessary for the following five, 15, 30 and 50 years. The commission's study must include capacity, age and condition of public infrastructure; repair and maintenance needs; financing methods and investment requirements. Recommendations on federal infrastructure program priorities must be included as well. AWWA endorsed the legislation and commended the senators. "The local water utilities of this country have made and will continue to make the major infrastructure investments with local revenues," Tom Curtis, AWWA deputy executive director said. "The United States can boast the finest water and wastewater systems in the world. This infrastructure has served us well and much of it can continue to serve us well for years to come. But it cannot do so forever unless we take steps now to counter its natural wear-down due to age."
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Senators Voinovich, Carper and Clinton Introduce Infrastructure Improvement Bill
United States Senate News Release (03/08/06)

U.S. Senators George Voinovich (R-OH), Thomas Carper (D-DE) and Hillary R. Clinton (D-NY) have introduced the National Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2006, legislation created to address the deteriorating conditions of the nation's drinking water systems and other public works. If enacted, the bill will establish a National Commission on Infrastructure of the United States. The commission will be charged with aiding in the nation's economic growth and ensuring the ability of the nation's infrastructure to meet current and future demands. This legislation is the first important step in revitalizing the nation's weakening infrastructure. Hurricane Katrina made evident the serious need for the repair and improvement of the nation's aging infrastructure and waterway systems. The backlog of unfunded Army Corps of Engineers operation and maintenance projects mandated by Congress is $1.2 billion. This is up from $250 million when Senator Voinovich arrived in the Senate in 1999.
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State Targets Contaminant
Boston Globe (03/15/06) ; Daley, Beth

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued a strong standard for perchlorate, a chemical that has been found in 10 public water resources and is used in explosives. The standard, 2 parts per billion in water, is far stricter than the 24.5 parts per billion proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The state's environmental agency head Robert Golledge Jr. noted that the proposed federal standard does not account for citizens exposure to the chemical in lettuce, grains, vitamins, and breast milk where perchlorate has also been found. The chemical has been linked to adverse effects on the thyroid gland, which controls metabolism and growth.
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Scientists, Policymakers Discuss Water Resources
Santa Fe New Mexican (03/09/06) ; Matlock, Staci

The recent fifth annual meting of the Espanola Basin Technical Advisory Group in Santa Fe, composed of geologists, hydrologists, and geochemists, focused on the newest studies of water in the basin. Managers and elected officials at the conference hoped the studies could answer some tough questions about the amount of water that exists, how long it will last, and its drinking quality. The studies are crucial for decision making. Santa Fe hydrogeologist Claudia Borchert says that a new computer model currently employed by the city is helping water managers and the City Council make good decisions. Known as WaterMAP, the model diagrams all the areas from which Santa Fe obtains water and considers several other factors that impact the city's water resources, including water rights and water-delivery systems. WaterMAP winds up appearing like a large spider web, at the heart of which is Santa Fe's ultimate objective of a dependable and continual water supply. City employees and council members depend on the model to know what occurs every time a strand of the web is altered. Borchert notes that the model permits users to see how a decision will impact the water web prior to the decision's implementation.
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Town Signs Sewage Agreement With Jersey City
North Bergen Reporter (NJ) (03/12/06) ; Hague, Jim

The town of North Bergen, N.J., has inked a deal with the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority to pump about 70 percent of its wastewater through the latter's conduits and on to the Passaic Valley Sewage Commission's treatment plant in Newark. The deal allows North Bergen to avoid spending upwards of $70 million to build a new treatment plant or revamp its old one, as mandated by an EPA report four years ago. Under the agreement, the city will instead pay an $8 million operation startup fee to the authority and about $20 million in construction fees to build pipelines that connect with Jersey City's. North Bergen's costs will partly be defrayed by low-interest loans from the state's Infrastructure Trust Fund. Higher water bills are also expected to defray costs, though nothing dramatic.
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A New $100 Million Hurdle
San Jose Business Journal (03/06/06) ; Simonson, Sharon

In the latest blow to a long-suffering Coyote Valley development plan, California's Santa Clara Valley Water District has decreed that any plan to turn South County farming acres into a new urban center must include a plant that can treat waste water to a purity level on par with drinking water. Effluent is generally used for industry or for irrigation and does not require such a high level of cleaning, and this is the first time the water district has sought such a treatment level for waste water. Early estimates put the cost of upgraded water recycling capacity for Coyote Valley at $80 million to $100 million, not including the cost of any necessary pipelines, pump stations, or groundwater recharge ponds. The recycling capacity could be added to an existing treatment plant or built separately, but it is not clear who will be covering the cost. The estimated $1.6 billion in infrastructure expenses for the Coyote development plan already partially covers these costs, according to Laurel Prevetti of the San Jose city planning department, who says that "it is within the ballpark" of estimates published over a year ago by HMH Engineering. However, the new stricter treatment requirement was decided upon well after then. In January 2005, the city's economic consultant for the development plan, Economic & Planning Systems Inc., put all water-system expenses at just $82 million. While this estimate also said the city expected the cost of the water system to be $189 million, it said the difference between the two figures would come from unidentified external financing sources, and that these sources' contributions were also estimated. Water-related needs, including not just waste water and drinking water but also draining and flood control, have driven much of the infrastructure costs for the Coyote Valley plan, which includes a 55-acre lake that is partly aesthetic in purpose but also partly intended for flood control.
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Safe River Swim Goal of $2M State Plan
Albany Times Union (NY) (03/04/06) ; Pacenza, Matt

New York state environmental officials have pledged $2 million in funding to help meet Gov. George Pataki's goal of making the Hudson River swimmable all the way between the Adirondacks and New York City by 2009. Most of the Hudson is now safe to swim in following decades of efforts to reduce pollution caused by sewage from human waste, which flows into the river from inadequate wastewater treatment facilities and from overburdened storm water culverts. But problems still remain between Albany and Troy. The funding will go towards new disinfection equipment for treatment plants in various jurisdictions. More money will be needed to revamp the region's storm water drains however.
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State House Approves Bill Reviewing Detroit Water Rates
WXYZ News (Detroit) (03/10/06)

Michigan lawmakers have passed a bill that will establish a regional board to study rates set by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. The legislation now goes to Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who in the past has vetoed similar legislation. The action by the Legislature followed a March 8 vote by Detroit's City Council to increase water rates for other communities that utilize its water system but delay a rate hike for its own residents. City officials contend the hikes, which average 5.7 percent for the suburbs and 5.4 percent for the city, are required to help finance the replacement of 100-year-old water mains that experience 50 leaks per week and to update plants and pumping stations. The council voted on March 8 to implement the suburban increases but delay the increase for Detroit until the city administration comes up with a water affordability proposal to help low-income residents reduce their bills. The hikes go into effect July 1 and will appear in August bills. Detroit Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams and Water and Sewerage Department Director Victor Mercado contend the decision could threaten the water and sewer system's $450 million capital improvement plan, compliance with federal Clean Water rules, and a bond sale currently in progress.
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