Engineering Inc. - January/February 2008 - 14

T he infrastructure is slowly crumbling and the price tag for fixing things is rising. LArry roeSner coLorAdo StAte univerSity “Congress has considered a number of bills in the last several years to alleviate the water infrastructure funding problem,” added Raymond. “While they represented good steps forward, little has been enacted into law. In the meantime, the federal government has increasingly relied upon states, local governments and utilities to finance the funding gap. It is time for the federal government to resume its shared responsibility for clean water by making a significant commitment to help remedy the problems associated with our nation’s water infrastructure.” ACEC is actively working with Water Infrastructure Now (WIN), a broad industry, environmental, municipal and labor coalition, to advocate for passage of a multi-year bill that reauthorizes the clean water SRF, mandates the use of qualifications-based selection (QBS) and includes language to study the creation of a dedicated water trust fund. ACEC and its WIN coalition partners continue to participate in meetings with key Senate committee staff drafting the Senate version of an ACECsupported House bill (H.R. 720), which passed the House in March, 2007. ACEC also is conducting outreach and educational meetings about funding needs and QBS with the relevant House and Senate committees, particularly the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Finding Financial Solutions Resources Development Act and authorized $23 billion for 900 water projects, including the rebuilding of facilities along the Gulf Coast that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, restoration of the Everglades, improvements along the Great Lakes and flood-control projects nationwide. Congress is now weighing several other bills that would fund future projects and create ongoing funding. Some, like Jessica Roach at Food & Water Watch, would like a trust fund to be established so that dedicated and sustainable funding is available. “A clean water trust fund would take water funding out of that political process and eliminate the annual battle over appropriations,” she says. A fund could be financed through beverage taxes, fees on chemicals that wind up in waterways and other criteria. “The key is to figure out a way to impose a fee on people or companies that degrade our water sources or benefit from them,” she says. In Washington, the battle over funding has reached its boiling point. Though some organizations, such as Food & Water Watch, favor the conventional approach of funding projects primarily at the federal level, the EPA and several other organiza- tions, including AWWA and NAWC, subscribe to a different approach. NAWC’s Cook says, “Society doesn’t subsidize any of our other utilities: electrical, telephone or gas. Customers pay regular rates. So why should water be any different?” He and industry insiders say that unsubsidized rates likely would jump 3 percent to 10 percent, but also would force utilities to be more accountable. In the end, the battle over water infrastructure remains a murky issue. Although there’s growing recognition that something needs to be done about the nation’s aging infrastructure, the question is whether elected officials, utility operators and the public can move swiftly enough to avoid a catastrophe. “America must make water quality a priority,” says Ken Kirk, executive director of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies. “The American people are going to continue to demand a very high level of water quality. Improvements are going to cost a lot of money, but they are absolutely essential to our way of life.” n Samuel Greengard is a freelance business writer based in West Linn, Ore. Funding needed infrastructure improvements is never easy. But there is hope. In November, for example, the U.S. Senate overrode a presidential veto of the Water 14 ENGINEERING INC. JaNuaRy / FEbRuaRy 2008 w. Perry conwAy/corBiS

Engineering Inc. - January/February 2008

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