Underground Infrastructure - January 2023 - 10

Newsline
North Carolina to Invest
$19 Million for Water Upgrades
in Yadkin, Surry Counties
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has
announced water infrastructure grant
funding for North Carolina's Yadkin and
Surry counties. The Yadkin Valley Sewer
Authority in Elkin will receive $4 million for
floodplain resiliency wastewater collection
system improvements. Jonesville will receive
$8.1 million for water treatment plant filter
and clear well replacement and $6.9 million
for meters and water line replacement.
" This funding will give families and
business owners in Jonesville, Elkin
and Ronda more confidence in their
infrastructure so they can continue
to grow, " Cooper said.
On average, North Carolina invests about
$200 million annually in the state's water
infrastructure. But thanks to historic federal
funding passed by Congress and signed by
President Biden, North Carolina is investing
$2.3 billion over two years in water and
wastewater infrastructure in communities
across the state.
In July, the Governor announced
$789.4 million in water and wastewater
infrastructure funding to help pay for
385 projects statewide, including 140
construction projects. To date, 86 counties
are receiving funds from the American
Rescue Plan Act funds, state reserve funds
and state budget allocations to upgrade
their water infrastructure.
Southland Awarded
$59 Million to Build Water
Pipeline in New Mexico
Southland Holdings announced that its
Oscar Renda Contracting subsidiary was
awarded a $59 million contract to construct
a water pipeline for the Eastern New Mexico
Water Utility Authority.
The scope of work includes constructing
approximately 15 miles of water pipeline
in Clovis, N.M. This project is a part of the
150-mile Eastern New Mexico Rural Water
System, which provides water from the Ute
Reservoir to several cities and a military base.
The water pipeline will connect to
another phase of the system that Southland
constructed for the water authority.
Construction was expected to start by Jan. 1.
10 JANUARY 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
New Jersey Awarded
$169 Million in Water
Infrastructure Funding
The EPA has awarded New Jersey with nearly
$169 million in funding for water infrastructure
improvements that will help communities
access safe drinking water, increase resilience,
collect and treat wastewater, clean up
pollution and safeguard vital waterways.
EPA awarded New Jersey a total of over
$95 million in fiscal 2022 grants from the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through the
Drinking Water SRF, which includes $31 million
for supplemental drinking water projects,
$48 million to identify and replace lead
service lines and nearly $17 million to address
emerging contaminants like PFAS.
The funding supplements approximately
$12 million in regular funding to New Jersey's
Drinking Water SRF program in FY 2022.
Additionally, New Jersey submitted and
obtained EPA's approval for its plans for the
use of the FY 2022 funding.
The EPA said the grants will continue to be
awarded, on a rolling, state-by-state basis, as
more states receive approval throughout FY
2023. States will also receive awards over the
course of the next four years.
Water Boil Order Issued for
More Than 2 Million in Houston
More than 2 million people in the Houston
metro area were under a water boil order
notice for more than two days after a power
outage caused low pressure at a water
purification plant, officials said.
The late-November order prompted the
closures of numerous public and private
schools and colleges, while other campuses
provided bottled water and hand sanitizer.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said on
Twitter during the shutdown that the city
believes the water is safe, but a boil order was
required because water pressure dropped
below the required minimum by the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality.
The boil order could be lifted 24 hours after
the city was notified the water is safe.
Mississippi Capital Hires
Emergency Water Plant
Workers
Local officials in Mississippi's capital city,
where a late summer water crisis upended
life for 150,000 people, have approved an
emergency plan to increase staffing at the
city's two water treatment plants.
Jackson city council members voted to
hire four skilled contract workers from a Los
Angeles-based company to staff the O.B.
Curtis and J.H. Fewell water treatment plants,
tanks and well facilities. Jackson has two
staff operators licensed at the Class A level.
City leaders said that the two operators had
been working more than 80 hours a week to
produce clean water at the plants.
Jackson's water system has been beset by
problems for decades, but the latest troubles
began in late August after heavy rainfall
exacerbated problems at the O.B. Curtis plant,
leaving many customers without running
water. State and federal officials surged
resources to the area after emergency orders
were declared by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves
and President Joe Biden.
Reeves declared a state of emergency on
Aug. 30 that remained in place until Nov.
22. City officials have working toward an
agreement with a private firm to operate
Jackson's water system over the long term.
US Officials Say More Locations
to Test Sewage for Polio
Philadelphia and Oakland County, Mich., are
joining the small list of U.S. localities that are
looking for signs of polio infections in sewage,
U.S. health officials said Wednesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said the communities will test
for polio in sewage for at least four months.
Communities in New York state began testing
earlier this year after a man was diagnosed
with paralytic polio outside New York City.
CDC officials say they have been talking
with other communities about also starting
polio wastewater testing. They are focused on
cities and counties with low polio vaccination
coverage and those in which travelers had
visited the New York communities where polio
was found.
Officials say identifying the virus in sewage
can help a city or county accelerate and target
vaccination campaigns.
Next year, health officials in Houston
and Colorado plan to begin testing sewage
for several other health threats, including
germs with antibiotic resistance, influenza,
respiratory syncytial virus, norovirus and other
bugs. If the pilot goes well, the wider testing
will be rolled out to other parts of the country,
CDC officials said. UI
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Underground Infrastructure - January 2023

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