Environment & Energy

Water Infrastructure

Issue
America’s water and wastewater systems face a funding gap of $300 to $500 billion over 20 years between current annual investments in water infrastructure and the investments that will be needed each year to repair deteriorating water and wastewater systems and meet the mandates of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. This funding gap has been documented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) — of which ACEC is a member.

A combination of reduced federal spending over the past decade and increased federal mandates to meet treatment requirements is taking its toll. The collective aging of pipes and systems complicates the ability of communities to meet the objectives of the federal clean and safe drinking water laws. Seventy-five percent of the nation's capital investment in wastewater and drinking water infrastructure is buried underground and generally becomes visible to the public only when a system fails or a catastrophic event occurs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided a welcome one-time boost for the State Revolving Loan programs, providing $4 billion for the Clean Water SRF and $2 billion for the Drinking Water SRF, however substantially larger federal investments are needed to address the water infrastructure needs of communities.

Engineering firms work with state and local governments and communities to design solutions to prevent billions of tons of pollutants from reaching rivers, lakes and coastlines, protecting human health and safety. The industry is also designing new solutions to protect the public from contaminants in drinking water. These efforts not only protect our health and well-being, but contribute significantly to jobs and economic growth, particularly in those industries that depend on clean and safe water resources.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed bills in 2007, 2008, and 2009 reauthorizing and expanding the SRF program, but due to procedural roadblocks, they have yet to be signed into law. The House legislation provides $13.8 billion in authorized funding for the Clean Water SRF over five years, while the Senate bill authorizes nearly $40 billion for the Clean Water SRF and the Drinking Water SRF. Both measures also include a requirement that SRF-funded projects use Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) in the procurement of engineering services to ensure that tax dollars are well spent for water projects.

ACEC Position
ACEC strongly urges quick action by the Senate on a water infrastructure bill, and urges both the House and the Senate to complete the process this year and send a final bill to the President for his signature.