An engineering and contracting company in Pismo Beach, California, has been banned from working on city projects for the next five years due to a botched lift station project that lost the city $323,000.

The project was initiated in 2018 and included maintenance work on six lift stations along with collections system repairs. But the city claims there were numerous mistakes, and the project was delayed 69 days.

“This is actually a very rare thing for a City Council to do and a very rare item,” City Manager Jim Lewis said at a recent council meeting, the New Times reports. “And it was certainly with a heavy heart and a heavy frame of mind that I added this to your agenda. But it really has to do with public safety and the integrity of our projects.”

PWSA Penalized for Illegal Sludge Dumping

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that sludge collected during water treatment processes at the Aspinwall treatment facility owned by the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority was intentionally and illegally discharged into the Allegheny River for seven years.

A plea agreement announced by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the city outlines the illegal dumping charge and levies a $500,000 fine on PWSA. It also prohibits PWSA from raising utility rates to pay for the fine.

PWSA was placed on probation for three years and the $500,000 fine will be used to establish a fund and compliance program that will be subject to audit by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice.

Water Main Break in St. Louis Leaves Hundreds of Residents Without Service

In other news, a recent water main break in St. Louis, Missouri, left about 700 residents without water. As of Nov. 22, crews were working to repair the broken 30-inch line, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The break was first announced around noon on Nov. 21, but residents claim they’d been without water since the previous day.