The following is a transcript of the WaterWorld Weekly Newscast for May 21, 2018.
Hi, I'm Angela Godwin for WaterWorld magazine, bringing you water and wastewater news headlines for the week of May 21. Coming up...
Pipe break triggers severe water shortage in southern Illinois
Water reuse demonstration facility opens in Pismo Beach
Still time to apply for WIFIA
Survey shows strong support for recycled water in Calif. -- with special guest Ron Askin
Last Wednesday, a water main break at the Rend Lake Intercity Water Treatment Plant in southern Illinois caused the plant to shut down and disrupted water service to Rend Lake Conservancy District's 160,000 customers in 60 communities.
Residents were urged to conserve water, but as stored supplies ran low or were depleted, many schools, restaurants, and businesses closed their doors.
Crews worked tirelessly to reconnect the system and by 2:00 am Friday morning, 35 hours into the outage, a bypass had been installed.
By 8:30 am, concurrent repair work on the 36" main line had been completed.
Water has begun flowing again, but it will take a few days for storage tanks to be replenished and pressure to return to normal.
Officials have instituted a boil water order until lab tests confirm the water is safe to drink.
A ribbon cutting was held last week for the Central Coast Blue Advanced Water Purification Demonstration Facility at the Pismo Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant in California.
The small-scale demo facility will be open for about a year and will inform the design and construction of the full-scale Central Coast Blue Advanced Water Purification Facility, which is expected to begin construction in 2021.
That facility will produce highly-purified water that will be injected into the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin. It's expected to increase municipal groundwater supplies by 30 percent and reduce the amount of treated wastewater discharged into the ocean by 77 percent.
Water reuse is part of the community's plan to create drought-resistant water supplies and the demo facility will enable the public to see world-class advanced water purification treatment technology in action.
The U.S. EPA has extended the deadline to apply for a WIFIA Water Infrastructure Loan. Those interested will now have until July 31, 2018, to submit letter of interest.
WIFIA, of course, is the federal loan and guarantee program established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014.
In April, EPA issued its first WIFIA loan to King County, Washington. The $134.5 million loan will help finance a new wet weather treatment station that will better protect public health, improve water quality, and create more than 1,400 jobs — all while saving up to $32 million compared to standard financing over the life of the loan.
For more information about the WIFIA program and resources to use when applying, visit epa.gov/wifia.
Despite a recent reprieve in California's drought, many of the state's residents remain concerned for the future. A recent survey conducted by Xylem revealed that a majority of residents -- 90% -- believe another drought is looming within the next five years. Here to discuss the topic is Xylem's Vice President of Water Utilities for North America Ron Askin.
[See the newscast for the full interview]
If you'd like to learn more about the results of the survey, you can find details online at xylem.com.
For WaterWorld magazine, I'm Angela Godwin. Thanks for watching.
