FEMA to Pay $1.08 Million to Bay St. Louis for Water Meters

Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, will receive a grant of more than $1.08 million from the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to replace and provide future protection for water meters damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Large amounts of debris, salt water flooding, and uprooted trees following Katrina severely damaged the city's drinkable water system. The grant includes more than $697,000 to replace 3,400 water meters that were lost or damaged and nearly $510,000 to storm-proof the meters, ensuring similar damage does not occur in the future. Ninety percent of the total $1.2 million project cost will be covered by the FEMA grant.

In addition to the $1.08 million grant, FEMA previously disbursed a grant of $18.3 million to Bay St. Louis to bring certain potable water lines in the area to current codes and standards.

FEMA has already obligated nearly $2 billion in grants to Mississippi through the Public Assistance program. MEMA administers the program and allocates the money to the applicants.

The grant comes from FEMA's Public Assistance program, which provides financial assistance to state and federal governments and eligible non-profit organizations for disaster-related cleanup and rebuilding to pre-disaster condition. The state of Mississippi and the applicant pay a share of the costs for projects that are not fully funded by FEMA.

FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident, initiates mitigation activities and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

Source — Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Water 2025: Preventing Crises and Conflict in the West

The Department of the Interior's Water 2025 Initiative responds to the western drought by focusing Federal financial and technical resources in key western watersheds and on critical research and development to help predict, prevent, and alleviate water supply conflicts.

Water 2025 will help stretch or increase water supplies to satisfy the demands of growing populations, protect environmental needs, and strengthen regional, tribal, and local economies. It will provide added environmental benefits to many watersheds, rivers, and streams, and minimize water crises by improving the environment and addressing the effects of drought on communities.

Finally, Water 2025 will provide a balanced, practical approach to water management even after the drought is over. The President's fiscal 2005 budget called for an investment of $21 million for such efforts.

One Water 2025 program, the FY 2005 Challenge Grant program, helps pay for conservation improvements that will help prevent crises and conflicts over limited water resources. The program shows how leveraging the Federal investment can provide tremendous benefits: $4 million is helping to fund 19 projects that will generate almost $30 million in on-the-ground water delivery system improvements.

Source — Council on Environmental Quality

Reducing Water Pollution from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

President Bush supported a final rule that protects surface water from animal waste generated by over 15,000 concentrated animal feeding operations. The rule requires, for the first time, control of runoff resulting from the spreading of manure on fields. The amount of phosphorus released into America's environment is expected to be reduced by about 56 million pounds annually, while annual nitrogen releases are expected to be slashed by more than 100 million pounds. These projections represent a 25 percent reduction over current levels. The annual release of over 2 billion pounds of sediments and about one million pounds of metals is also expected to be averted, helping to protect both the health of the American people and the environment. In 2002, 4,500 operations were covered by permits. As a result of the new rule, EPA expected that up to 11,000 additional facilities will be required to apply for permits by 2006.

Source — Council on Environmental Quality

ALERT!   SOFTWARE UPDATES

Operator10 v8.16 and Antero v4.09 installs and updates are now available for downloading from our web site.

To download program updates, go to http://www.allmaxsoftware.com/download.php to begin the update process.

To download an evaluation version of Operator10, go to http://www.allmaxsoftware.com/operations.htm and click the "Get Operator10" button on the left hand side of the screen.

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