News

Dec 04, 2023

Kenosha City Council approves contract for revetment upgrades along portion of lakefront

The Kenosha City Council voted unanimously Monday night to award a multimillion

The Kenosha City Council voted unanimously Monday night to award a multimillion dollar contract to a Wisconsin construction company for much-needed revetment upgrades along a portion of First Avenue along the lakefront.

The Kenosha City Council voted unanimously Monday night to award a multimillion dollar contract to a Wisconsin construction company for much-needed revetment upgrades along a portion of First Avenue.

The City Council voted to award Brownsville-based Michels Construction Inc. a $4.4 million contract to regrade the existing revetment structure, fill voids with imported or existing stones and the installation of a new layer of larger armor stones over the existing structure between 71st and 75th Streets. The life expectancy of the upgrades are expected to be over 50 years.

The project is anticipated to start in the summer and last 185 days, weather permitting.

The Department of Public Works also sent out bids for complete removal of the existing revetment structure and reconstruction of a new one. If approved the city would have paid Michels nearly $9 million.

The city also received a bids from Michigan-based Great Lakes Dock and Materials. Great Lakes Dock bid $5.3 million for revetment upgrades and nearly $14 million for removal and construction of a new structure.

Revetment structures absorb energy of incoming water and protect land from erosion.

"It really helps to support the lakefront," said Ald. Jack Rose. "That's our lakefront and we need to take care of it."

Rose said this is one of the last remaining spots to be upgraded because the city's been working to shore up the lakefront for years.

"It's been ongoing project," Rose said. "This is the final phase. We need to do it and move on."

A major dam and hydro-electric power plant in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine was destroyed, prompting mass evacuations and fears of large-scale devastation as Ukraine accused Moscow's forces of committing an act of "ecocide." The Kremlin denied involvement and accused Ukraine of "deliberate sabotage" of the dam. CNN's Sam Kiley has more.

A bathtub ring shows where the water mark on Lake Mead once was along the boarder of Nevada and Arizona, March 6, 2023, near Boulder City, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

The cracked earth of the Sau reservoir is visible north of Barcelona, Spain, March 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Carmelo Del Valle, who was displaced from his home by the rising waters of the Paraguay River, hauls buckets of water to his temporary shelter, in Asuncion, Paraguay, March 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

A child, who was displaced from his home by the rising waters of the Paraguay River, runs past carrying a container filled with water, on the grounds of his temporary shelter, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Saturday, March 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

The wind pumps of Kinderdijk work in Kinderdijk, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. About a third of the country is below sea level and wind pumps prevent regions from being flooded. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

People, without running water at home, collect water from a ravine in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Visitors look at the dry lakebed of the Canelon Grande dam that provides drinking water for the capital in Canelones, Uruguay, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico).

William Bermejo and his daughters carry containers with water collected from a mountain runoff near a highway tunnel in Caracas, Venezuela, March 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A man carries a container with water he collected from a mountain runoff in Caracas, Venezuela, March 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A woman washes utensils outside her house in a slum area on the eve of World Water Day in Mumbai, India, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

A girl takes a bath near a manual water pump at a slum area in Muntinlupa, Philippines, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A resident, without running water at home, fills a container at a water fill station, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Franklin Caceres checks a water pump used to collect water from a well in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, March 20, 2023. Caceres supplies water to more than 400 people in the upper sector of Petare. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A girl walks past a manual water pump at a slum area in Muntinlupa, Philippines on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Fishermen use a net to catch fish that would struggle to survive in the low-oxygen water in order to protect drinking water in the Sau reservoir, about 100 km (62 miles) north of Barcelona. Spain, Monday, March 20, 2023. The Sau reservoir's water levels now stand at 9% of total capacity, according to Catalan Water Agency data, so officials have taken the decision to remove its fish to prevent them from asphyxiating. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A woman fills her container with water from a vendor water tank in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A man bathes on the street with runoff water from a mountain in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, March 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Water treatment workers gather garbage inside SEDAPAL, the state water supply company in Lima, Peru, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

A woman walks on a bridge over the Rimac River, a day in Lima, Peru, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

A water vendor fills water containers from a tanker in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Locals wait for their turn to fill their water containers from water collected in an abandoned highway tunnel at the Cotiza neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, March 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

People bathe and do their laundry in a spring inside a cave due to no running water at his home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

People get drinking water from a water collecting point at a slum area, in Karachi, Pakistan, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

A woman uses a manual water pump at a slum area in Muntinlupa, Philippines on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A web of plastic pipes running through the dirt connects water to some of the houses in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A youth without running water at home balances a bucket of water collected from a ravine in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A section of lake Serre-Poncon that's usually submerged is visible in southern France on March 14. France suffered a major drought in 2022 and winter drought in February, an alert for the years ahead.

It's one of the world's most vital resources. In Paraguay, a man displaced by a rising river hauls heavy buckets of it to his temporary home. In the Philippines, a girl uses a manual pump to get just enough to wash. In Venezuela's neighborhoods, it's collected in wells to flow into hundreds of homes.

Water is the lifeblood of every community around the world. But a sustainable, clean supply for drinking, hygiene and farming is not guaranteed for hundreds of millions of people, according to United Nations figures.

From droughts stifling once-reliant sources to destructive downpours and floods, what the world does about its water woes is the central question at the U.N.'s three-day water conference that begins Wednesday. Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of World Water Day, it's the first dedicated U.N. conference on water in nearly 50 years.

A tree stands in a lake in Usingen near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, the World Water Day. World Water Day was established in 1992 by the United Nations to spread awareness about the water condition all over the world.

Climate change, pollution and waste have compounded water concerns by squeezing the Earth's resources. Some supplies have dwindled from lack of rain, with dry spells often lasting months if not years in some places. Others have had essential supplies contaminated by chemicals or toxins from human activity.

A punishing winter drought in southern Europe left reservoirs so dry that officials are moving fish for their survival. Kenya's dry weather and a lack of infrastructure means many people gather water at local hubs to collect enough. Peru's water workers must treat water contaminated by waste from abandoned mines, bacteria and garbage. In Haiti, where running water is unavailable in some homes, people, including children, fill large jugs in dwindling ravines.

Some countries exposed to too much or too little water have already found ways to keep water flowing in the needed amounts. In the Netherlands, where about a third of the country is below sea level, wind pumps prevent regions from being flooded.

Delegates attending the conference in New York will agree on an agenda on Friday aimed at advancing toward a goal of having readily available, sustainably managed water and sanitation for everyone across the globe.

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