Clean Water Advocacy - News Releases - March 28,
2001
March 28, 2001 Contact: Lee Garrigan, 202/833-4655, AMSA
AMSA Addresses Water Infrastructure Needs Before
Congress
Washington, DC – "The time has come to once again make water
infrastructure funding a national priority" Pat Karney, Director of
the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, told the
House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment this morning.
Karney testified on behalf of the Association of Metropolitan
Sewerage Agencies (AMSA) in one of the first in a series of
Congressional hearings to address closing the $23 billion funding
gap between current local investments in water and wastewater
infrastructure and what is needed over the next 20 years to replace
aging and failing pipes and meet Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking
Water Act mandates.
The environmental gains made by the water and wastewater
community over the past thirty years are impressive, but they are in
jeopardy. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the
nation will lose a generation of water quality progress without
significant new investment in water and wastewater infrastructure.
"Recently, more than a million consumers in California were plunged
into darkness as the nation's energy crisis deepened. Imagine what
would happen if the nation's water and wastewater systems began to
fail," Karney stated. "As the Director of Cincinnati's sewer
district, could I ask our consumers to tolerate untreated or unsafe
water? I think not, because the failure of wastewater systems could
create a public health emergency, cause widespread environmental
degradation, and lead to an erosion of our local economies."
The $23 billion gap is documented in two reports released by the
Water Infrastructure Network (WIN), most recently in last month’s
Water Infrastructure Now: Recommendations for Clean and Safe
Water in the 21st Century (WINow), which has been endorsed by
AMSA and over 30 nationally-recognized organizations. The WINow
report makes specific recommendations on bridging the infrastructure
funding gap through a renewed federal commitment to the nation’s
municipalities. By authorizing an average of $11.5 billion per year
in capitalization funds over the next five years the federal
government will provide states with the necessary funds to offer
grants and loans to local water and wastewater agencies for repairs
and replacement of aging infrastructure.
"We commend Congress on addressing the issue of infrastructure
needs," AMSA Executive Director Ken Kirk said. "Cincinnati is only
one of thousands of cities, counties, and towns facing aging
infrastructure. This problem may be ‘out of sight’ but it no longer
can stay ‘out of mind’. The time to do something about this problem
is now. We look forward to working with the Congress to identify
workable solutions to preserving the environmental gains of the last
decades," Kirk added.
Copies of WINow and the text of Mr. Karney’s testimony are
available at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/testimony/3-28-01testimony.cfm.
The Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies
represents the interests of the nation’s municipal wastewater
treatment agencies. AMSA members serve the majority of the sewered
population in the United States and collectively treat and reclaim
over 18 billion gallons of wastewater each day. AMSA’s members are
true environmental practitioners dedicated to protecting and
improving the quality of the nation’s waters.
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