Missouri River might stop flooding by late August
August 1, 2011

The US Army Corps of Engineers is planning to start reducing outflows from the upstream dams on the Missouri River around the middle of August, with a plan to get the river below flood stage in Sioux City by the end of the month. Time will undoubtedly run short very quickly for the cities up and down the river that need to make repairs to infrastructure -- from roads and bridges to levees -- since it's possible for heavy snowfall to start as early as the second week of October. Repairs prior to the start of winter weather will be essential, since spring snowmelt and rainfall routinely cause high water levels throughout the Missouri River basin. The storage system managed by the Corps is still quite nearly full, with about 13 million acre-feet of water to go before the annual flood control level is reached.

Related products we sell: Flood-control gates, portable dams, flood-cleanup pumps


$4 million in damage caused by flash flooding in Dubuque
August 2, 2011

A storm complex last week dropped an unfathomable foot of rainfall in 12 hours on Dubuque and surrounding areas, causing severe damage -- including an estimated $1.5 million in damage to Dubuque's wastewater treatment plant, along with another $2.5 million in estimated damage to the rest of the local infrastructure. Sewers overflowed, and the epic rainfall totals caused damage throughout the community. The Governor has signed a disaster declaration for the community, making some residents eligible for state aid to replace damaged and lost items.

Related products we sell: Engine-driven pumps, hydraulic-driven pumps, submersible pumps


GR rings the bell at the NYSE
August 8, 2011

Gorman-Rupp's largest individual shareholders were on-hand to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange just a little over a week ago. The company's Chairman of the Board is Jim Gorman, whose father, JC, founded the company in 1933. Jim was elected to the board of directors of the company in 1946, and current President and CEO Jeff Gorman was elected to the board in 1989. The company became publicly-traded in 1968, but the Gorman family retains a very significant share of ownership in the company.

We have represented Gorman-Rupp since 1984 -- or nearly two-thirds of the time it has been a publicly-traded company.


Fire protection from municipal water: Too easily taken for granted
August 17, 2011

The images we usually use to promote the work of municipal water services are generally those of the child splashing in a fountain or a clear glass of water. There's nothing wrong with those images, and they tend to strike close to home: The value of safe drinking water is enormous, and especially when we see just how great a difference safe drinking water makes to the lives of people living in developing countries. But it's also possible to forget (much too easily) that drinking-water systems also provide critical support to fire departments. It wasn't all that long ago that cities burned regularly because they weren't protected by municipal water systems that could be tapped for firefighting. One history site says that the downtown area in Homer, Nebraska, went up in flames five times between 1903 and 1913. Imagine: Just a century ago, American towns went unprotected against fire because they hadn't yet developed the municipal water infrastructure required to offer fire protection.

Related products: We sell everything from the pumps that fill municipal water systems and water towers to the flowmeters that measure what passes through those lines. We can help keep water fresh in the towers with aeration systems, and we can measure for the additives like chlorine and fluoride that keep those systems safe and useful.


Al Qaeda member planned to poison Spanish water supplies
August 29, 2011

A man from Morocco has been sent to jail for plotting to poison water supplies in Spain. He was arrested just days ago. These kinds of stories serve as reminders that it's extremely important to protect public drinking water systems, and to remain vigilant about their security.



Past water and wastewater news updates

last revised August 2011