President Barack Obama, on Saturday, declared that an emergency exists in the State of Michigan and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the area affected by contaminated water in the City of Flint.

State officials in Michigan last week warned Flint residents not to drink their tap water without using a filter to strain out lead. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said it could end up costing the city as much as $1.5 billion to fix the damaged water distribution system.

Bipartisan legislation signed into law by President Obama just before the New Year will protect water supplies by outlawing tiny plastic microbeads that are increasingly found in the environment.

Hawksley Consulting, a business consulting firm and subsidiary of MWH Global, announced today the acquisition of Burton & Associates, a St. Augustine, Fla.-based financial management services firm.

Last week, eight water, wastewater and public works organizations urged the Bureau of Reclamation to use a portion of newly received drought response funds to invest in water reuse activities.

Aegion Corp. recently announced a definitive agreement to acquire Underground Solutions, Inc., known for its fusible PVC products that are used in water, wastewater and conduit applications.

Under two settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), three Puerto Rico government agencies have agreed to upgrade portions of stormwater systems they own within the Municipality of San Juan.

American Water recently announced it has been awarded the operation and maintenance contract for water and sewer services for the City of Camden, N.J. The contract award is valued at approximately $125 million over a term of 10 years.

Innovyze, a business analytics software and technologies company for smart wet infrastructure, recently announced that its president, COO and chief technical officer, Paul F. Boulos, Ph.D., BCEEM, Hon.D.WRE, Dist.D.NE, Dist.M.ASCE, NAE, has been appointed to the Design Professionals Coalition (DPC).

The Water Design-Build Council (WDBC) recently elected Leofwin Clark (CH2M), John Doller (Carollo) and Steve Gates (Brown and Caldwell) to leadership roles in the organization.