Failing Pittsburgh water infrastructure has PWSA scrambling (Pittsburgh Tribune)

January 5, 2013 – The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (A2 / 725304PH6) scrambled Saturday to repair the second big water main break that occurred within the last three days, and interim executive director Jim Good said the agency simply can‘t afford to replace every aging water line before it bursts. “We have to prioritize and adjust as we can,” said Good, stating many lines in the city are 150 years old, and that replacing all of them could cost billions of dollars. “It‘s a question of priority and money,” Good said.

Link to Full Article: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/3240405-74/authority-break-crews

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DiNapoli: NY State has $89B in unfunded infrastructure needs (Democrat & Chronicle)

December 22, 2012 – The state and local governments are facing an $89 billion shortfall over the next two decades when it comes to making necessary improvements to infrastructure, according to a new report last week from the state comptroller. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office found the funding gap has increased by about $9 billion since it last filed a report on the issue in 2009, even though capital spending by local governments has increased by 30 percent over the past decade. DiNapoli said the impacts of Superstorm Sandy in October and Tropical Storm Irene last year “have only compounded the problem.”

Link to Full Article: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20121222/NEWS01/312220048/1002/

Sandy Seen Boosting U.S. With as Much as $240 Billion Rebuilding (Bloomberg News)

November 22, 2012 – John Cataneo is working his 20 employees overtime and still can’t keep up with demand from customers who need plumbing repaired after superstorm Sandy. He says he’s hired two new workers and may need more. Cataneo’s experience shows how the storm is giving the U.S. Northeast — and the rest of the country — an economic boost that may eventually surpass the loss of business it caused. Reconstruction and related purchases and hiring may range from $140 billion to $240 billion and increase U.S. economic growth by 0.5 percentage point next year, assuming $50 billion in losses, according to Economic Outlook Group LLC, a Princeton, New Jersey-based forecasting firm.

Link to Full Article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-23/sandy-seen-boosting-u-s-with-as-much-as-240-billion-rebuilding.html

Civil engineers say Texas’ infrastructure needs maintenance, money (Dallas Morning News)

November 9, 2012 – When Texas civil engineers took a hard look at the state’s infrastructure this year, they graded it a solid C — but with a whole lot more D’s and D minuses than B pluses, and not a single A on this report card. The Texas Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers presented the 2012 report card on Thursday in Fort Worth. The state was downgraded in particular for a lack of maintenance planning and sustainable funding. The biggest problems, the engineers determined, were the drinking water supply, public schools, and the state’s network of more than 7,000 dams. Each was graded at D minus. The only B+ grades went to solid waste for reductions in the disposal rate, increases in capacity and greater use of methane gas for green power; and energy, specifically the electrical supply. Flood control and roads get a D, wastewater a C minus, navigable waterways a C, and transit and aviation a C plus, the report shows. “As a state, we do a poor job of thinking of our infrastructure as a long-term investment,” said Crespin Guzman, executive director of the ASCE’s Texas Section. “We can either invest in our future now, or pay even more later if we fail to meet these obvious needs. We cannot continue to build things and not fund or maintain them.” “If a major drought occurs in Texas in 2060, approximately 41 percent of municipal demand for water could not be satisfied by current water sources,” the engineers’ report states. The state estimates it will require about $212 billion to build the water supply, treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment and some flood control to meet 2060 needs.

Link to Full Article: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20121108-civil-engineers-say-texas-infrastructure-needs-maintenance-money.ece

Alternative Link to Article: http://tuitero.com/?c=post&m=ver&id=77591&pais=colombia