Underground Infrastructure - January 2023 - 8

NEWSLINE LATEST INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
Tennessee Secures
$186 Million Loan to
Modernize Chattanooga
Wastewater Infrastructure
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) announced a $186 million Water
Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act
(WIFIA) loan to Chattanooga, Tenn., to help
improve its wastewater system's energy
efficiency and resilience to extreme weather.
The Wastewater Compliance and
Sustainability Project will modernize the
Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant,
which serves customers throughout the city
of Chattanooga and adjacent communities
in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and Walker
County and Catoosa County, Georgia. The
city of Chattanooga will improve storage
and treatment capacity at the plant to
provide resiliency during extreme weather
events and support compliance with its
consent decree
The city of Chattanooga is helping keep
rates affordable by taking advantage of the
WIFIA program's flexibility to defer principal
repayment until 2032, six years after
construction completion. By financing with a
WIFIA loan, the City of Chattanooga will save
approximately $48 million. Construction and
operation of the new systems are expected
to create around 3,000 jobs.
Massachusetts Fines City
for Illegally Discharging
Sewage into Lake
The Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection and the city of
Worcester have reached a settlement for its
unauthorized release of 6 million gallons of
untreated wastewater into Lake Quinsigamond.
Under the agreement, the city will conduct
a forensic evaluation of its Lake Avenue Pump
Station, submit a report with a long-term plan
and schedule improvements to the pump
NASSCO, Rehab Icon Irv Gemora Dies at 86
Underground infrastructure industry icon Irvin " Irv " Gemora,
86, of Towson, Md., passed away on Dec. 4, 2022.
Gemora is perhaps best known for his affi liation with
the National Association of Sewer Service Companies
(NASSCO), including serving as executive director from
2002 to 2010. He was instrumental in guiding NASSCO
through the formal launch and rapid growth of the
Pipeline Assessment and Certifi cation Program (PACP).
Under his leadership, PACP has grown geometrically
Irv Gemora
and continues to allow NASSCO to not only experience
tremendous growth, but to diversify into many other
benefi cial rehabilitation activities and programs. After his
retirement from NASSCO, Gemora continued his involvement by becoming a PACP Master Trainer.
" In the early days, some perceived NASSCO as a 'good-old-boy club' and I'm proud that view
has changed, " Gemora told Underground Construction (now Underground Infrastructure) upon
his retirement from the association. " We have a mission - NASSCO develops standards, best
practices, certifi cation programs and specifi cations. Because the need of a standard was widely
recognized, PACP was almost immediately accepted and has become an international standard. "
Gemora graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in electrical engineering. He
soon began a successful career as a semiconductor manufacturer's sales representative. In the late
1980s, he became a partner in a company that purchased the Danby man-entry, large-diameter
pipeline rehabilitation system and brought it to North America. It was through Danby that he fi rst
became involved in NASSCO as an active member and also served on the board of directors.
Gemora is survived by his wife Paula Gemora.
Contributions may be made to NASSCO's PACP Scholarship Fund, NASSCO, Inc., 5285
Westview Drive, Suite 202, Frederick, MD 21703. A celebration of life will be held at a later date
in January; the exact date and time will be announced. UI
8 JANUARY 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
station. It must also update its response
plan for notifi cations and coordination with
stakeholders around the lake.
Under terms of the agreement, Worcester
must implement the modifi cations on a
schedule approved by the state and pay a
$13,000 penalty.
The action relates to a February 2022
mechanical failure of one of four pumps
that flooded a pump station in a matter of
minutes. That flooding caused an electrical
failure of the other three pumps at the
station. With no pumps operating to send
the wastewater to the treatment plant,
untreated sewage flowed directly into
Lake Quinsigamond, which spans Worcester
and Shrewsbury and is located within a
designated Environmental Justice area.
The unauthorized discharge of untreated
wastewater is a violation of the state
Clean Water Act.
The Worcester Department of Public
Works & Parks notified the state of the
pump station failure and took immediate
measures to return the station to service.
The Worcester Lakes & Ponds Program
notified the public of the sewage release
and advised residents to avoid contact with
the waterbody due to elevated levels of
E. coli bacteria. The discharge continued
until the evening of the next day. The city
has since installed an emergency backup
pumping system at the station and has made
additional improvements.
Engineering Firm Reaches
Settlement in Flint Water Case
An engineering fi rm accused of having some
responsibility for Flint's lead-contaminated
water in 2014-15 has settled a lawsuit with
four families after a jury failed to reach a
unanimous verdict in the case.
Details of the agreement between the
families and Lockwood, Andrews & Newman,
known as LAN, were not publicly disclosed in
federal court in Ann Arbor, Mich.
" To avoid the signifi cant costs, expenses
and time of another protracted trial, the parties
were able to reach a mutually agreeable
resolution, subject to court approval, " LAN
attorney Wayne Mason told MLive.com.
The families sued LAN and another
company, Veolia North America, accusing

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Underground Infrastructure - January 2023

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