Many midsize and large cities throughout the United States, including the Midwest and Northeast, have lost a substantial percentage of their population. These cities face the challenge of a corresponding decline in utility revenues from a loss of ratepayers, which makes it difficult to address their water infrastructure needs. Overall, water and wastewater utilities across the United States face substantial costs to maintain, upgrade, or replace aging and deteriorating infrastructure—approximately $655 billion for water and wastewater utilities over the next 20 years according to EPA’s most recent estimates.
View this complete post...Archive for the ‘Drinking Water’ Category
Water Infrastructure: Information on Selected Midsize and Large Cities with Declining Populations
Thursday, October 20th, 20162016 Report Card for Tennessee’s Infrastructure
Monday, October 10th, 2016AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS (ASCE) TENNESSEE CHAPTER Executive Summary Tennessee, the “Volunteer State,” the “Country Music Capital of the World,” boasts the official slogan, “Tennessee – America at Its Best.” Already, Tennessee has been named “Best place to move to.” What would it take for Tennessee to be known as the “Home of America’s […]
View this complete post...September 15: Imagine A Day Without Water
Wednesday, September 14th, 2016Imagine: No water to drink, or even to make coffee with. No water to shower, flush the toilet, or do laundry. Hospitals would close without water. Firefighters couldn’t put out fires and farmers couldn’t water their crops.
View this complete post...New Mexico: Water Project Dollars Slow to Spend
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016Water, along with adequate roads and a skilled workforce, set the bar for economic growth. A deficiency in any of these three key factors lowers the state’s ability to attract, retain, and grow businesses and jobs for advancing citizen welfare. By itself, investment in water infrastructure would add 36 thousand jobs each year for 20 years in New Mexico, according to the National Association of Water Companies. But funding is in decline to support such an aggressive investment plan.
View this complete post...2016 Report Card for Florida’s Infrastructure
Monday, July 25th, 2016Florida’s economy relies heavily on its beaches, the state’s “invisible” coastal infrastructure that protects Florida’s communities. Most of the public view beaches as places where they can participate in outdoor recreational activities. Florida beaches represent its leading tourist destination with about 810 million “day visits” to its beaches annually. This number more than double the number of “day visits” made annually to all U.S. National Parks combined.
View this complete post...What’s In Your Water? Flint and Beyond
Monday, July 4th, 2016NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL (NRDC)
While Flint represents a clear case of extreme lead contamination, it does not have a monopoly on serious lead problems. In order to evaluate the national extent of violations of the Lead and Copper Rule, NRDC has obtained official EPA violation and enforcement records. We have conducted extensive data analysis, using geographic information system (GIS) mapping software to highlight and map the scope of lead-related issues in drinking water systems across the United States.
Atlanta, GA: Making a Visible Difference in the Proctor Creek Watershed Through Information and Data
Monday, June 27th, 2016Description: EPA is working to bring focused attention and coordinated action in more than 50 environmentally overburdened, underserved, and economically distressed communities. This involves listening to community leaders and residents to understand their needs and then working with local, state and other federal partners to leverage our collective resources in support of local goals. In […]
View this complete post...2016 Strategic Directions: Water Industry Report
Friday, June 24th, 2016BLACK & VEATCH INSIGHTS GROUP
Many, if not all issues considered most important to the water industry in 2016 appear linked to funding and cost concerns – the cost of addressing outdated systems at a time when traditional revenue streams are drying up and the political cost of pitching rate cases or alternative financing strategies to skeptical stakeholders…Or, the cost of water as it’s widely perceived by the public, whose understanding of the resources needed to treat and deliver a safe supply may compete with the industry’s ever-growing – and deferred – maintenance bill.
Guest on The Infra Blog: Howard Neukrug, Senior Fellow, US Water Alliance
Thursday, June 9th, 2016Howard Neukrug is a Senior Fellow at the US Water Alliance. In this capacity he provides strategic guidance on key Alliance initiatives, serves as an official spokesperson for the organization, and leads the development of publications and initiatives to advance a sustainable water future for all.
“We need to get ahead of this in terms of infrastructure—whether it’s water or telecom, streets, bridges, highways, airports—and move forward. What’s more important to the future of our country and our children than the infrastructure that we leave them? The fact that the infrastructure that has been left to us was remarkable and strong, and has served us well as a nation and helped us in our growth. And at some point this investment is going to have to be increased into the future…We’re going to have to find more money, and when we find the money it will never be enough to do everything that we want to do.”
View this complete post...Guest on The Infra Blog: Congressman Earl Blumenauer, U.S. Representative for Oregon’s 3rd District
Wednesday, June 8th, 2016A lifelong resident of Portland, Oregon, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR-3) has devoted his entire career to public service. Elected to the US House of Representatives in 1996, Mr. Blumenauer has created a unique role as Congress’ chief spokesperson for Livable Communities: places where people are safe, healthy and economically secure.
“It’s not particularly headline grabbing unless there’s a system failure, but it is past time that we force this issue in every community. There is no substitute for engaging people in a very specific analysis of what happens in their own backyard and what the benefits are for getting this right.”
View this complete post...Follow InfrastructureUSA
CATEGORIES
- Accountability (219)
- Aging Infrastructure (752)
- Aviation (130)
- Biking (323)
- Bipartisan (271)
- Bridges (493)
- Broadband (57)
- Buses (160)
- Carbon Tax (22)
- Clean Air (182)
- Climate Change (200)
- Competitiveness (230)
- Congestion (327)
- Dams (77)
- Democrat (123)
- Drinking Water (191)
- Economic Stimulus (276)
- Employment (207)
- Energy (585)
- Environment (615)
- Equity (239)
- Funding (887)
- Global (205)
- Great American Infrastructure (33)
- Green (294)
- Guests on The Infra Blog (274)
- Hazardous Waste (27)
- High Speed Rail (224)
- Highway (785)
- Inland Waterways (204)
- Jobs (251)
- Land Use (98)
- LEED (28)
- Levees (42)
- Local (1,910)
- National (1,525)
- Policy (1,121)
- Pollution (215)
- Private Investment (213)
- Public Opinion (189)
- Public Parks & Recreation (196)
- Public Transportation (1,028)
- Racism (6)
- Rail (502)
- Recession (65)
- Recovery (218)
- Republican (109)
- Roads (1,120)
- Schools (80)
- Seaports (68)
- Smart Grid (98)
- Smart Growth (442)
- Solid Waste (26)
- Sustainability (765)
- Tax (112)
- Technology (397)
- Telecommunications (46)
- Transit (1,333)
- Urban Planning (979)
- Wastewater (180)
- Water Treatment (165)
Video, stills and tales. Share images of the Infra in your community that demands attention. Post your ideas about national Infra issues. Go ahead. Show Us Your Infra! Upload and instantly share your message.
Is the administration moving fast enough on Infra issues? Are Americans prepared to pay more taxes for repairs? Should job creation be the guiding determination? Vote now!
What do the experts think? This is where the nation's public policy organizations, trade associations and think tanks weigh in with analysis on Infra issues. Tell them what you think. Ask questions. Share a different view.
The Infra Blog offers cutting edge perspective on a broad spectrum of Infra topics. Frequent updates and provocative posts highlight hot button topics -- essential ingredients of a national Infra dialogue.
Dear Friends,
It is encouraging to finally see clear signs of federal action to support a comprehensive US infrastructure investment plan.
Now more than ever, our advocacy is needed to keep stakeholders informed and connected, and to hold politicians to their promises to finally fix our nation’s ailing infrastructure.
We have already engaged nearly 280,000 users, and hoping to add many more as interest continues to grow.
We require your support in order to rise to this occasion, to make the most of this opportunity. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to InfrastructureUSA.org.
Steve Anderson
Managing Director
SteveAnderson@InfrastructureUSA.org
917-940-7125