Underground Infrastructure - September 2023 - 10

Newsline
During the magnitude 6 Antelope Valley
earthquake of 2021, the team of researchers
looked at the light signatures passing through a
section of fiber optic cable in the Eastern Sierra
Nevada. The cable's equal to 10,000 seismometers
allowed researchers to determine that the
M6 earthquake was really composed of a series
of four minor ruptures. A typical seismic network
was unable to identify these so-called " subevents, "
which were similar to tiny earthquakes.
The team was able to produce an accurate
model of the M6 earthquake based on the
recorded seismic activity thanks to collaboration
with Nadia Lapusta's group, led by Lawrence
A. Hanson, Jr., Professor of Mechanical
Engineering and Geophysics. The time and
precise positions on the fault zone of the four
sub-events were displayed by the model.
Officials Approve Settlement
with Utility For 2019
Gas Main Explosion
The Public Utility Commission has approved
a revised settlement totaling nearly $1 million
with a gas utility over a 2019 explosion in
western Pennsylvania that reduced a home to
rubble and injured five people.
Canonsburg-based Columbia Gas took
responsibility for the July 2019 blast in North
Franklin Township, saying it had failed to install
a key piece of equipment in the home while
workers nearby upgraded a gas main. Officials
said the home lacked a pressure regulator, and
when the new system was engaged there was a
leak that led to the explosion.
The homeowner, a neighbor and three
firefighters were hurt in the blast, which also
damaged cars and nearby homes. Columbia's
insurance company earlier paid out more
than $3 million to cover the damage, with
$2 million to cover the property damage and
another $1 million for personal injury and
emotional distress.
Commissioners in December had rejected
an earlier proposed settlement reached by
commission staff with the utility, saying they
wanted more information about the extent and
cost of damage and about how the company
had remedied deficiencies identified during this
and other incidents.
Water Infrastructure Across
the Country Vulnerable
to Climate Change
The crack of a summer thunderstorm once
comforted people in Ludlow, Vermont. But
that was before a storm dropped eight inches
of rain on the village of 2,200 in two days last
month. And it was before the devastation of
Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Now a coming
rainstorm can stir panic.
The rainfall that walloped Vermont in July
hit Ludlow so hard that floodwaters carried
away cars and wiped out roads. It sent mud and
debris into homes and businesses and forced
officials to close a main road for days.
Thankfully, the facility that keeps the village's
drinking water safe was built at elevation and
survived. But its sewage plant fared less well.
Flooding tore through it, uprooting chunks of
road, damaging buildings and sweeping sewage
from treatment tanks into the river. Even now
the plant can only handle half its normal load.
It's not just Ludlow. Water infrastructure
across the country is vulnerable as climate
change makes storms more unpredictable and
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10 SEPTEMBER 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
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Underground Infrastructure - September 2023

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