When Did The Romans Stop Maintaining the Colosseum?

From WaterWorld.  Given the age of wastewater infrastructure, this type of effort was probably needed long ago.  More and more communities are nearing the end for their water and wastewater assets.  You either move head with the 100-year old wastewater treatment plant or it all starts looking like the Roman Colosseum.

DENVER, CO, Nov. 11, 2014 -- CH2M HILL, a global full-service consulting, design, construction, program management, and operations firm, has been awarded a program management advisor contract by the city of San Mateo, Calif., to oversee its Clean Water Program (CWP). The program includes approximately $900 million in total program costs escalated over a 20-year period to upgrade the city's sanitary sewer collection and wastewater treatment system.

CH2M HILL will provide program services, including program planning and administration, program controls, technical planning, engineering support, portal management, and construction support, to implement the combined CWP Master Plan. Currently, San Mateo is finalizing a key component of the Master Plan -- its capital improvement program (CIP), with partners, stakeholders and regulatory agencies.

Like many cities across the U.S., San Mateo's original sewer pipes date back to the early 1900s, and the wastewater treatment plant was largely constructed from 1935 to 1980. The facility's aging assets have reached the end of their useful service life and are in need of rehabilitation or replacement. The city is also under two regulatory programs, driving it to stop sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) and stormwater events from blending, as well as upgrading both its collection and treatment systems.

The city's CWP Master Plan will not only address aging infrastructure and regulatory needs but will help it achieve its sustainability goals by optimizing wastewater treatment, biogas utilization and conveyance infrastructure.