In other news below:
-- Tetra Tech wins $50 million EPA 'STREAMS' program
-- Experts gather to address nation's critical infrastructure, environment
-- Infiltrator Systems sold to Philadelphia private equity firm
-- AwwaRF enlists HDR for two research studies
-- New UK water consumer champion ready to be 'vocal and visible'
-- R.W. Beck named Nashua, N.H.'s oversight consultant
-- CH2M Hill acquires BBS Corp.
-- Innovative wastewater treatment processes boost U.S. equipment market to $1.3 billion
-- Stevens Water Monitoring president elected to Burnham Institute board
-- Canadian activists receive 'alternative Nobel prize'
-- Investments in infrastructure benefit city of North Perth, Perth County
-- Guilty plea in Canada's Pennask Creek pollution offenses
-- Berkeley lab technology could help areas flooded by Katrina, Rita
-- IJC to hold 14 public meetings on future of Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
GE expands $20M healthcare initiative to two hospitals in Ghana
FAIRFIELD, CT, Oct. 3, 2005 -- General Electric has expanded its five-year, $20 million African infrastructure and healthcare initiative. GE Water & Process Technologies, a part of GE Infrastructure, is aiding the expanded effort by providing desperately needed water scarcity solutions to two hospitals located in Kumasi and Kintampo, Ghana. Both Kumasi's Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and the Kintampo District Hospital were in dire need of new infrastructure and technology that is crucial in providing lifesaving healthcare efforts. GE Water & Process Technologies is helping to improve on those infrastructure challenges by expanding the hospitals access to healthy sources of water. In Kumasi, GE installed several water scarcity solutions to assist KATH, the regions main referral center, in serving half of the 20 million people in Ghana and neighboring Burkina Faso and the Cote d'Ivoire. The new equipment installed includes a reverse osmosis (RO) filtration technology, which serves two purposes at the facility...
Click here for more.
Tetra Tech wins $50 million EPA 'STREAMS' program
PASADENA, CA, Oct. 3, 2005 -- Tetra Tech Inc. has been awarded a five-year $50 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to perform Scientific, Technical, Research, Engineering and Modeling Support (STREAMS). The program will be managed by EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory. The scope includes support to the EPA Office of Research and Development, the National Homeland Security Research Center, the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program, and the Environmental and Sustainable Technology Evaluation Program. This program, in various forms, has been awarded to Tetra Tech five consecutive times, and is an expansion of a previous five-year $35 million program.
Click here for more.
Experts gather to address nation's critical infrastructure, environment
JACKSONVILLE, FL, Oct. 3, 2005 -- In a timely and compelling keynote address at the joint Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) South Central-South Atlantic Regional Education and Training Conference and The Infrastructure Security Partnership (TISP) fourth annual Congress on Infrastructure Security for the Built Environment, Brig. Gen. Gerald E. Galloway, U.S. Army (ret.), a Glenn L. Martin Institute professor of engineering at the University of Maryland, will discuss lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, focusing on infrastructure protection issues. It is just one of many sessions that will bring hundreds of engineering, design, construction and security professionals to the St. Johns County Convention Center in St. Augustine, Fla., Oct. 18-20.
Click here for more.
Infiltrator Systems sold to Philadelphia private equity firm
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, October 3, 2005 -- Goldsmith Agio Helms on Friday announced the completed sale of its client, Infiltrator Systems Inc., a designer and manufacturer of plastic chamber systems for on-site septic leachfields and stormwater management to Graham Partners, a Philadelphia-based private equity firm. The sale of Infiltrator is Goldsmith Agio Helms' 56 th successful transaction completed in the plastics industry, and its 54th successful transaction completed in the building products industry.
Click here for more.
AwwaRF enlists HDR for two research studies
BELLEVUE, WA, Oct. 3, 2005 -- The AWWA Research Foundation, with support from utilities in the U.S. and abroad, has commissioned teams led by architectural and engineering consulting firm HDR Inc. to research two urgent water industry concerns -- developing practical guidelines to help utilities manage and respond to total colifom and E. coli in distribution systems, and 2) accumulation of regulated inorganic contaminants and naturally occurring radionuclides in distribution system pipeline scales and sediments, and residential/institutional plumbing systems...
Click here for more.
New UK water consumer champion ready to be 'vocal and visible'
LONDON, Oct. 3, 2005 -- The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) started work today for water consumers in England and Wales, reported the Office of Water Services in a news release posted to the Government News Network. CCWater will build on the service previously provided by WaterVoice. The new organization will have extra duties and more power than its predecessor, which represented consumers from within the regulatory structure of the UK Office of Water (Ofwat)...
Click here for more.
---
Among other recent headlines:
• R.W. Beck named Nashua, N.H.'s oversight consultant -- BOSTON, Oct. 3, 2005 -- The city of Nashua, N.H., has awarded management consulting and engineering firm R.W. Beck Inc. a contract to oversee private firm Veolia Water North America in the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the future city-owned water system. R. W. Beck's oversight contract will run for six years, with the potential for three contract renewals. The city decided to acquire the assets of Pennichuck Water Works, an investor-owned utility (IOU) serving 24,000 Nashua water ratepayers, when Pennichuck initiated the sale of its assets to a non-local IOU, Philadelphia Suburban Water Company. The city decided to outsource the new water system's O&M and to procure independent oversight to avoid the expense of adding extra city staff members. In fact, cost savings are realized through this type of outsourcing...
• CH2M Hill acquires BBS Corp. -- COLUMBUS, OH, Oct. 3, 2005 -- Columbus-based BBS Corp., a consulting engineering firm specializing in planning, design, and construction administration of water and wastewater treatment, distribution, and collection systems, has been acquired by CH2M Hill, a global engineering services firm based in Denver, Colo. Since 1937, BBS, specializing in design and engineering of water and wastewater treatment, conveyance and distribution systems, has completed over 200 of these system projects for clients including the City of Columbus (since 1948), Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (since 1971), and District of Columbia Water and Sewerage Authority (since 1986)...
• Innovative wastewater treatment processes boost U.S. equipment market to $1.3 billion -- PALO ALTO, CA, Sept. 30, 2005 -- Novel treatment processes have revolutionized wastewater treatment, serving both industrial and municipal markets. The current water shortage situation in several geographical areas of the United States has particularly triggered the need for reuse. In addition, population growth, tighter regulations, increasing costs of clean water and awareness regarding protection of the remaining clean water sources, are all causes for the increased demand for wastewater treatment equipment. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, U.S. Wastewater Treatment Equipment Markets, reveals that revenue in this industry totaled $774.4 million in 2004 and estimates to reach $1324.1 million by 2011...
• Stevens Water Monitoring president elected to Burnham Institute board -- LA JOLLA, CA, Sept. 30, 2005 -- The Burnham Institute for Medical Research today announced the election of seven new members -- including to its Board of Trustees and named Nicolas "Nico" Nierenberg as Chairman of the Board. The Burnham's Board of Trustees is comprised of philanthropists, industry thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and renowned researchers. New board members include Scott South, president and CEO of Stevens Water Monitoring System Inc., Portland, OR...
• Canadian activists receive 'alternative Nobel prize' -- OTTAWA, Canada, Sept. 29, 2005 -- Maude Barlow, national chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, and Tony Clarke, director of the Polaris Institute, will be receiving the prestigious Right Livelihood Award (RLA) known worldwide as the "alternative Nobel Prize". Jakob von Uexkull founder of the RLA announced today that the two Canadians would share the prize of CAD$300,000 with two other recipients from Malaysia and Botswana. Founded in 1980, the Right Livelihood award is presented annually in the Swedish Parliament. According to von Uexkull, the award was introduced "to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." Longtime leaders in the global movement for social justice, Barlow and Clarke were chosen, among other accomplishments, for their recent work promoting the fundamental right to water...
• Investments in infrastructure benefit city of North Perth, Perth County -- LISTOWEL, ON, Canada, Sept. 28, 2005 -- Residents of the Municipality of North Perth and the County of Perth will benefit from improved infrastructure through investments under the Canada-Ontario Infrastructure Program (COIP). Paul Steckle, MP for Huron-Bruce; John Wilkinson, MPP for Perth-Middlesex; and Ed Hollinger, Mayor of the Municipality of North Perth and Warden of the County of Perth, made the announcement today...
• Guilty plea in Pennask Creek pollution offenses -- KELOWNA, BC, Canada, Sept. 27, 2005 -- The British Columbia Ministry of Transportation appeared today in Provincial Court and plead guilty to two counts under the federal Fisheries Act for depositing a deleterious substance into Pennask Creek. The Ministry was fined $1,000.00 and ordered to pay $45,000.00 to the Environmental Damages Fund for use in rehabilitation of the Pennask watershed. Additionally, the Court ordered that the Ministry conduct an ongoing monitoring program of water quality in the area...
• Berkeley lab technology could help areas flooded by Katrina, Rita -- BERKELEY, CA, Sept. 27, 2005 -- The flood waters that filled the streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are now heavily populated with bacteria, viruses and other disease-causing microbes that could pose a grave risk to residents long after the waters have been cleared. An experimental technology developed by scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) holds promise for use in situations like this to provide a comprehensive picture of bacterial presence in the air, soil and water and enable authorities to track how that presence changes over time...
• IJC to hold 14 public meetings on future of Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement -- MONTREAL, Canada, Sept. 27, 2005 -- The International Joint Commission
(IJC) announced Sept. 22 that it's inviting the public to a series of meetings in 14 cities across the
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basin in Canada and the United States in October and November. Participants will be asked to express their views on what needs to be done to protect water quality in their communities and on the future of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the two countries. The IJC will report these views to the two governments...
***
In earlier newsbriefs, see: "WaterBriefs: PennWorks invests in 3,000 jobs, $10M in infrastructure projects" -- Also in this report (Sept. 30, 2005): AquaShield stormwater systems verified by NJCAT; Arcadis acquires major U.S. environmental company; American States Water privatization contract awards include Andrews AFB; Aquatech awarded water contract for fifth coal power plant; Baker establishes new business, Baker Consulting Services Group; ViryaNet to demonstrate utilities service hub at Telvent User Conference; ista acquires metering service provider ROWI; Chlorinators Inc. to celebrate 30th anniversary; PPG's Lake Charles, La., plant now powering basic infrastructure; Layne Christensen announces completion of Reynolds Inc. acquisition; Sentinel Solutions begins installing systems for the Land Lease Community; HydroFlo portfolio company MARTI values EYII contract at $210,000,000 over two years; AirWater Corp. secures order for a container of 129 units of machines for Oman; Aspen Rentals supplies needed equipment for New Orleans...
###
