Tap Water

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) issued the Buried No Longer: Confronting America's Water Infrastructure Challenge report recently. The text of the report details the massive level of investment needed expand, replace and repair buried drinking water infrastructure in the United States. 

I'll cut to the chase and tell you we're talking about $1 trillion of investment between now and 2035.

 “Because pipe assets last a long time, water systems that were built in the latter part of the 19th century and throughout much of the 20th century have, for the most part, never experienced the need for pipe replacement on a large scale,” the report says. Replacement needs account for about 54 percent of the national total, with the balance attributable to population changes over that period.

 Like most of us, I'm a drinking water fan. I'll buy bottled water on a road trip occasionally but safe drinking water standards only apply to the stuff coming out of my city tap. Plus my dentist thanks me for drinking tap water because of the fluoride boost it gives my teeth.

I'll also admit that I'm an infrastructure junkie. I support most public works projects so long as they're necessary, well designed, and installed by qualified contractors.

And finally, since I'm admitting everything here, I'll say I'm an environmental professional, and a member of the AWWA since 2004. So I'm sold on the problem. I've seen the effects of a crumbling infrastructure, and the lack of appropriate funding. The problem of underfunded drinking water infrastructure is absolutely, undeniably true in my opinion.

My issue with this report isn't the problem it addresses but with the problem statement. Why focus on money, when a conversation about jobs could be so much more convincing? The time for capital improvements couldn't be better in the sense that borrowing rates are low, and municipal bond sales remain strong even in this down economy. 

Convert the findings from dollars to labor hours and employment rates and the text would read entirely differently. A problem statement that offers a solution in terms of jobs open up the discussion. The  issue resonates with politicians and taxpayers rather than the small set of environmental-infrastructure junkies like myself.