Underground Construction - February 2020 - 15

Stable, Even Grow in 2020
expected FY 2020 appropriation increasing the 2019 $8 billion in loan capacity.
President Trump's policies are concentrating
on putting the burden of maintaining and
funding much-needed renaissance at the
local level, with programs such as WIFIA.

Funding
Survey respondents clearly believe accessing funding is critical to the much-needed
growth and restoration of their systems.
"Our city is planning on seeking WIFIA
funding in 2020," said this West Coast
respondent. "Our city council and budget
director finally realized that waiting for
grant money is pointless - it's just not
going to happen anymore. Our sewers are
in rough shape in many spots and we're
going to get in trouble with the state and
EPA if we don't start fixing them."
Said this respondent from the
Northeast, "I believe our budgeting for
2020 is a bit more aggressive - which is
a good thing." From the upper Midwest
came, "quite frankly I don't know where
we'll get the money, but we're in desperate
need of investing in our water system."
Added a Southwest municipal director,
"We're doing our best to move forward
with projects. How far we'll get in 2020
remains to be seen, but at least our council
and mayor seem to realize that we've got to
do something - now."
When the Environmental Protection
Agency comes calling on a city, panic sets
in. If non-compliance of EPA regulations
is being charged, a Consent Decree is a
likely outcome. In 2019, Houston became
the latest major city to go under a Consent
Decree - its second since the '90s. The first
one accomplished much towards addressing some of the city's problems, but it was
still more of a band-aid approach rather
than solving key problems, which has, in
turn, led to more problems.
The EPA remains active in pursuing
cities, large and small, that are out of compliance with environmental standards and
regulations. The agency also continues to
monitor how effective past Consent Decree

programs have been. That's because, said
one EPA official, the agency wants to better
understand root problems and what is
most effective in solving those problems.
About 39 percent of respondents said
their 2020 budgets will be greater than in
2019, while 21 percent have smaller budgets. About 40 percent expect their budgets
to be about the same.
When asked for a ballpark estimate of
how much money was needed to update, expand or rehabilitate their infrastructure for
2020 plus the long term, many respondents
didn't hesitate to state their opinions.
"We're basically treading water, doing
just enough to maintain our system. But
we're not making any progress in addressing
simmering problems and needs," said this
respondent from the Midwest. "We've got to
get started investing enough money now, so
that we can at least begin to catch up."
A municipal spokesman from a
Southeast city agreed. "We're doing our
best to keep the system working well.
But to get it caught up and fix recurring
problems, we need investment."
Respondents estimated they would
need $99 billion for sewer, $65 billion for
water and $34 billion for stormwater to
adequately meet their needs in 2020. In
the next five years, survey participants

anticipate needing more than $684 billion.
Many cities expressed their belief that a
strong asset management program is key
to developing long-term plans for assessing, planning and implementing programs
to keep sewer/water systems functioning
at maximum efficiency (assuming funding
can be acquired). With that in mind, asset
management continues to gain traction
with America's cities.
More than 46 percent of America's
cities report having an asset management
program fully in place, compared to
44 percent in last year's survey. About
35 percent now have a program in
development and about 19 percent have no
plans to implement an underground asset
management program at this time.
"We've finally making progress in
developing an asset management program
and we think it's going to really help us
pinpoint our problems and implement a
plan to address those issues," stressed a
Southeast respondent.

User fees
While user fee increases have historically
been a rare occurrence, over the past 10 years
there has been a dramatic climb in those
cities finally adopting much needed rate increases. "Trash collection keeps going up, gas

Personnel Performance Rating (per municipalities)
3.61

2016

3.81

3.9

3.7

3.8
3.36

2017

2018

Contractors

2019

2020

2016

3.47

2017

3.73

2018

3.9

3.9

2019

2020

Consulting engineers
UConOnline.com | FEBRUARY 2020

15
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Underground Construction - February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - February 2020
