With President Joe Biden’s Nov. 15 signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA, federal agencies are stepping up plans to implement the landmark package, estimated at $1 trillion over five years.
Final pact signed by 197 countries in Glasgow, Scotland was weaker on coal and other fossil fuels than many activists and nations wanted, but key steps such as a global carbon trading market and guidelines to finance climate adaptation were taken to cut emissions.
In response to a January executive order from President Joe Biden, federal agencies have released plans to move climate change and resiliency front and center in their focus and decision-making processes moving forward.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 8 said it plans to set effluent limitations guidelines and pretreatment standards for industrial facilities that manufacture per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), as well as chromium electroplating facilities, which use PFAS in their processes.
Sundt and PCL are constructing a $700-million water reclamation facility to replace an aging 33-million-gallon-per-day wastewater treatment plant in the city.
Amount in Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill for water service line replacement is woefully short to address the problem, say several industry officials familiar with drinking water issues.
Although construction activity itself accounts for less than 2% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., industry firms often possess the practical expertise and knowledge about how to reduce them in the built environment.
Tetra Tech designed a system to treat PFAS chemicals detected in the Orange County, Calif., Groundwater Basin, which provides up to 77% of the supply for local water agencies.