The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced the 2022 notices of funding availability for the agency’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program and the State Infrastructure Financing Authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) program. This year’s funding will provide up to $6.5 billion in total funding to support $13 billionRead More
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced the 2022 notices of funding availability for the agency’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program and the State Infrastructure Financing Authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) program. This year’s funding will provide up to $6.5 billion in total funding to support $13 billionRead More
Registration now open for 8th annual event; Early bird registration ends July 15 The eighth annual Water Finance Conference will be returning to the nation’s capital this summer, Aug. 17-18, 2022, at the Hilton Washington DC Capitol Hill Hotel. The agenda will be released in the coming weeks and registration is nowRead More
San Jose Water (SJW), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SJW Group (NYSE: SJW), announced recently that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved its request to deploy advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). SJW will be investing approximately $100 million over the next four years in this technology, which it says supportsRead More
How Best Practices Discussed in ASCE’s MOP 134 Are Essential to Both Condition Assessment and Asset Management Personnel By George Ruchti In the early morning hours of August 19, 2000, a natural gas transmission pipeline ruptured and ignited in New Mexico killing 12 people camping nearby. The rupture was determinedRead More
By Dave Shelton Being responsible for providing safe drinking water to approximately 1.5 million people is no easy task, but the City of Phoenix Water Service Department remains up for the challenge. As part of its ongoing efforts, the water service department is always looking for effective solutions to ensureRead More
By Tiffany Harrison & Wayne Hofmann The combination of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has delivered a potent one-two punch for the water and sewer sectors. ARPA provides more than $350 billion in financial assistance, with water and sewer projects among eligibleRead More
Ahmad Habibian, Ph.D., P.E., was recently honored with the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Stephen D. Bechtel Pipeline Engineering Award for his outstanding achievements in the engineering profession. The Bechtel award recognizes a member of the ASCE who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of pipeline engineeringRead More
Kathleen Jackson has been sworn in as commissioner of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas. Jackson was appointed to the PUC by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Aug. 5, 2022. She previously served as a Board Member of the Texas Water Development Board since 2014. “I’m grateful for Gov.Read More
It took one lawsuit to expose the toxicity of PFAS. And more than two decades of litigation to begin to address the harm it has caused. By Michael DiGiannantonio In 1999, a farmer in West Virginia, Wilbur Tennant, filed the first lawsuit against DuPont for contaminating water with perfluorooctanoic acidRead More
Last week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a “Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a Service Line Inventory” to help water utilities as they work to comply with recent Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR). The document includes recommendations for public water systems to assist in identifying and tracking lead serviceRead More
By John Ryan U.S. public infrastructure renewal was never going to be easy, but several current trends suggest that it will soon be even more challenging. Federal infrastructure loan programs are a proven policy tool, and their capabilities should be expanded in specific and practical ways to prepare for theRead More
The Senate last week approved its 2022 version of the Water Resources Development Act, biennial legislation that authorizes a variety of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood control, navigation, and ecosystem restoration projects and studies. The Senate’s amended version of H.R. 7776 passed by a tally of 93–1, and it will now be usedRead More
Registration is open for 8th annual event in Washington, D.C. The agenda for the 2022 Water Finance Conference will highlight a number of current issues impacting the capital planning of water/wastewater systems in the United States including Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act fund distribution, water pricing and affordability, and regulatory issuesRead More
The U.S. House of Representatives in July passed a six-bill spending package for fiscal year 2023, one of which is a $44.8 billion FY 2023 Interior-EPA spending bill that would fund EPA with $11.5 billion. The EPA funding included in the larger bill remained the same as approved by the House Appropriations Committee earlierRead More
Continued impacts from the ongoing global pandemic, concerns about drought and water contaminants, and workforce shortages were the key issues identified in the American Water Works Association’s (AWWA) annual State of the Water Industry report, which is now available. Since 2004, AWWA has published the annual State of the Water Industry Report based onRead More
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Resources for Drinking Water webpage that features resources designed to help states and water systems with the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Water utilities can access resources regarding underserved communities, building water system capacity, water security, and factRead More
CDM Smith’s Habibian honored with Bechtel award from ASCE 
Texas PUC swears in new commissioner 
A Legal History of PFAS 
EPA issues utility guidance for LCRR compliance 
Extend WIFIA’s Maximum Term…As a First Step 
