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Epa Administrator Announces Nearly $200 Million in Loans to Fix Bay Area’s Aging Water Pipes, Treatment Plants

Three massive loans from the federal government totaling nearly $200 million were announced Tuesday to help fix up aging clay pipes in the East Bay and to fund a new water treatment facility in Redwood City, a sum which Environmental Protection Agency Administrators Michael Regan said could increase if Congress passes the hotly debated trillion-dollar infrastructure bill.

At an event hosted by Silicon Valley Clean Water Tuesday at the agency’s new wastewater treatment plant currently under construction in Redwood Shores, Regan announced two Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loans totaling $143 million to SVCW and $25 million to the Oro Loma Sanitary District supporting projects expected to create more than 2,500 jobs.

Federal Lead-Pipe Rule Overhauled for First Time in Decades

For the first time in three decades, the federal government on Tuesday overhauled a rule aimed at reducing lead in drinking water across the country — a long-standing scourge made worse by the nation’s weathered and crumbling infrastructure.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s lead and copper rule, widely criticized as complicated, poorly enforced and too weak to protect the health of many Americans, has not been revised since 1991, when George H.W. Bush was president.

LADWP Replacing Critical Areas Along its 7,000 Miles of Water Pipeline with Earthquake Resilient Ones

Local utilities are looking for new ways to make Southern California earthquake safe, and one way is by replacing aging water pipes.
The new pipes could help keep the water flowing after a big one hits. LADWP is replacing critical areas along its 7,000 miles of water pipes in Los Angeles with earthquake resilient pipes to ensure water is still flowing after the shaking stops.

Experts: Keep Flushing During the Pandemic

In these uncertain times, protecting the integrity of water lines, and moving water in them to prevent stagnation, is critical, particularly in schools and manufacturing plants that are experiencing reduced and interrupted water usage during the pandemic.

San Diego Plans to Spend $70M Upgrading Sewer, Water Pipes Near San Diego State

Several streets in neighborhoods near San Diego State will be torn up for short periods over the next four years so the city can widen and upgrade sewer and water lines that lead to the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Researchers Look to Improve Leak Detection for the World’s Aging Water Pipes

Across the United States, underground labyrinths of leaky pipes lose more than a trillion gallons of water a year — and the problem is mirrored around the world.

“It’s a huge problem, especially in the cities,” said Daniel Tartakovsky, a professor of energy resources engineering at Stanford University in California. Tartakovsky and his former student Abdulrahman Alawadhi from the University of California, San Diego have proposed a way to improve a traditional method of detecting these leaks.