American Water Works Co. has announced that its subsidiary, New Jersey American Water, will invest $65 million to protect its Raritan-Millstone Water Treatment Plant from flooding during extreme weather conditions in the region.
These upgrades and additions will be made to the existing treatment plant to improve the resilience of the plant and ensure clean and reliable water service even during the difficult weather conditions in the region. The investment is a part of the company’s planned capital expenditure of $1.5 billion in 2017.
The Raritan-Millstone Water Treatment Plant provides potable water to nearly 1 million customers of New Jersey American Water.
The $65 million project will raise the plant’s north flood wall by four feet, increasing its height to 48 feet.
Completion of the infrastructure upgrade is expected by December 2018.
The overall water infrastructure in the United States is quite old. According to American Water Works, some water mains are nearly a century old and require immediate replacement.
American Water Works aims to invest $6.7 billion to $7.3 billion from 2017 through 2021.
Aqua America Inc. has plans to make capital investments of more than $450 million in 2017 as part of its investment target of over $1.2 billion in the 2017–2019 period. And Connecticut Water Service Inc. aims to invest more than $150 million in the 2017–2019 timeframe to strengthen its existing infrastructure.