The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans recently reported a turbine explosion at the Carrollton Water Treatment Plant injured three people.
Two people were taken to University Medical Center for treatment while a third individual refused treatment at the scene of the explosion.
The explosion reportedly blew out some windows in neighboring homes and nearby residents reported hearing the explosion.
SWB has published numerous updates on Twitter about the event:
We switched to Turbine 5 and an explosion occurred. pic.twitter.com/3tcTSgzz4z
— SWB New Orleans (@SWBNewOrleans) December 14, 2019
Federal Funding Could Alleviate Sewer Spill Problem on U.S.-Mexico Border
Rep. Scott Peters of California, along with the San Diego congressional delegation, recently learned that implementing legislation for the approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement will provide a new authorization of $300 million, in equal installments of $75 million over four years, to fund Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants under the Border Water Infrastructure Program to address sewage pollution on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The announcement is the result of consistent and coordinated advocacy by the congressional delegation and local elected and community leaders.
Since at least 1944, the federal government has tried, and failed, to stop flows of treated and untreated sewage in the U.S. from the Tijuana River in Mexico. This problem has been especially prominent recently. In 2017, a broken pipe flooded the river with upwards of 143 to 230 million gallons of raw sewage in one spill alone. The rupture of the Collector Poniente, in southeast Tijuana on Dec. 10, 2018, is a more recent example. At the time of the break, it was leaking roughly 7 million gallons per day.
Grant Money to Assist Flood-Damaged WWTP in West Virginia
More than two years after catastrophic flooding in McMechen, West Virginia, the city is set to receive $1.4 million in grant funding to survey its damaged wastewater treatment plant.
“It will be taken offline, a package plant will be brought in,” Mayor David Goddard tells WTOV News. “The old plant itself will be cleaned out, dried out from the damages that happened in 2017, and that’s the whole reason for this money.”
After the clean-out and survey is complete, the city will be able to assess whether a new plant is needed or whether the current facility is salvageable.
