America's Drinking Water and Wastewater Systems Face
Monumental Funding Needs
Coalition Calls on Federal Government to Help Fill the Gap
(Washington, D.C.) - The nation's 54,000 drinking water systems
and 16,000 wastewater systems face staggering infrastructure funding
needs of nearly $1 trillion over the next 20 years and shortfall of
a half of a trillion dollars, according to Clean and Safe Water for
the 21st Century - a report released today by the Water
Infrastructure Network (WIN). Although America's drinking water and
wastewater systems spend $23 billion per year for infrastructure,
they face an annual shortfall of another $23 billion to replace
aging facilities and comply with existing and future federal water
regulations, the report says.
WIN is calling on the federal government to make investment in
our critical drinking water and wastewater infrastructure a national
priority. Failure to meet these clean and safe water investment
needs of the next 20 years risks reversing the public health,
economic, and environmental gains of the last three decades, the
report notes. Imagine a day when community water systems are unable
to treat drinking water to remove harmful chemical and microbial
contaminants that cause disease, or when wastewater treatment plants
are unable to prevent billions of tons of waste from entering
rivers, lakes, and estuaries.
“The benefits of drinking water and wastewater infrastructure to
the nation's well-being cannot be overstated,” says WIN. “Yet local
governments and ratepayers must fund 90 percent of clean and safe
water infrastructure costs while grappling with competing needs to
educate children, maintain roads and transportation systems, fight
crime, and provide social services. The federal government should
not make communities choose between providing safe and clean water
and funding other necessary community programs. Nor should families
be forced to pay unaffordable water rates. Better solutions are
needed.”
Without a significantly enhanced federal role in providing
assistance to drinking water and wastewater infra-structure,
critical investments will not occur, the report notes. According to
WIN, there are a number of possible solutions. These include grants,
trust funds, loans, and incentives for private investment. “So, the
question is not whether the federal government should take more
responsibility for drinking water and wastewater improvements,” says
WIN, “but how.”
# # #
The Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) is comprised of
drinking water and wastewater associations; local elected officials;
state government organizations; environmental organizations; and
associations representing engineers, contractors, fabricators, and
water and wastewater equipment manufacturers — all dedicated to
preserving and protecting the hard-won public health, environmental
and economic gains provided by America's drinking water and
wastewater infrastructure.
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