Water Management

The Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency recently awarded a $141.2 million contract to CH2M HILL for the design, construction and long-term operation of a new surface water treatment system, largely helping replace ground water with treated surface water from the Sacramento River by 2016.

On Oct. 1, Piero Salvo, who has almost 20 years of trenchless construction experience, founded a new engineering firm named GAME Trenchless Consultants. The name GAME stands for Global Asset Management Engineering.

SWIC joined the Chronicles Group in hosting water documentary film screenings and speaker panels of Members of Congress and water leaders at the U.S. Capitol in November. Water summit special guest, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), began the program and encouraged support for his private activity bond legislation that would provide $50 billion in private capital investment in water and wastewater infrastructure and create more than one million jobs.

The 2014 outlook for the U.S. water and sewer market is stable despite ongoing economic, capital and political pressures, according to new report from Fitch Ratings. The report reveals that while water and sewer utilities continue to face ongoing capital and debt pressures, the sector shows overall financial strength.

For some, WEFTEC 2013 came and went ? another major water conference. For others, WEFTEC 2013 was truly a unique and distinct experience. Hosted by the City of Chicago at McCormick Place, this year?s show attracted a record number of attendees.

The established U.S. water and wastewater analytical instrumentation market has high saturation levels along with very few recent technological innovations. Nonetheless, slow and steady growth is anticipated, driven mainly by federal and state level regulations.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that utilities in the United States will need to spend approximately $300 billion over the next 20 years in wastewater infrastructure, with pipeline replacement and rehabilitation representing the majority of that work. Thus, municipalities are continually looking at improvement programs that account for performing necessary water and sewer upgrades while also maintaining budgets.

Over the last two-plus decades I have seen the evolution of asset management in the water industry, from early attempts at GIS-based data collection and storage to today?s advanced analytics and optimization. Never over that period have I seen the industry more ready and more in need of implementing good practice asset management than right here, right now in the United States.

The push to remove caps on Private Activity Bonds (PABs) continues to make its way slowly through Congress. Continuing to lead the charge in the House of Representatives are Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), who have worked hard to educate members of the House Ways and Means Committee.

The City of Houston Public Works and Engineering Department delivers drinking water to nearly 3 million residents over a four-county, 600-sq-mile service area. On its website, the department defines its mission as ?protecting public health, protecting the environment and providing superior customer service.?