Thursday, 16 October 2008

Happy Anniversary Clean Water Act!

This week marks the 36th anniversary of the enactment of the Clean Water Act. If you want to show your appreciation for the sanitation, health, and environmental benefits this excellent piece of legislation has brought you, About.com suggests Bone China as an appropriate 36th anniversary gift. Ok, maybe not - but what you can do is let your friends, relatives, and co-workers know how important the Clean Water Act is and that we can’t let its legacy fade.

 

The regulations provided by the Clean Water Act require treated outflows of wastewater into our nation’s lakes, rivers, and watersheds. While we all agree that’s a good thing, the nation has not been putting its money where its mouth is. Cleaning up all the stuff we flush and drain takes a lot of money and energy, but currently the federal government spends only about $900 million a year on wastewater when the EPA recently estimated the need at $400 billion to modernize our wastewater infrastructure. On ASCE’s most recent Report Card for America’s Infrastructure,  Wastewater earned only a D minus, among the lowest of the grades. We are definitely falling behind on keeping our water clean and healthy.

 

But like in any long marriage, sometimes all it takes is a little effort to reignite the spark. Let’s take this opportunity to reflect on all the benefits the Clean Water Act has brought us over the years and make the commitment to share them with future generations. We need large increases in funding at all levels of government for our wastewater infrastructure to combat the system’s decay from age and the demands of an increasing population. There’s no better time than today to start making those commitments. The next 36 years should be even better than the first!

Posted by Allison D at 2:37 PM in water resources/
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Thursday, 2 October 2008

Halfway There - and That’s Not Bad

Last week I wrote about the potential for Congress including infrastructure spending in a new economic stimulus package. The idea has been floating around since January when the first stimulus bill (the one that directed the IRS to send us all $600 checks) was in its early stages. ASCE and our coalition partners fought hard to include extra spending on things like roads and waterways, but in the end that provision was left out of the enacted version. It was a disappointing defeat, but we were happy that some of our nation’s leaders had finally realized that rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure doesn’t just fix a few potholes and leaky pipes, it puts people to work in good jobs that can’t be shipped overseas.

 

As stocks started falling and banks began to fail late this summer, focus in Washington again turned to economic recovery. Seeing the potential for a boost in spending, infrastructure supporters once again put forward an economic stimulus plan that would pump extra money into things like transportation, levee improvements, and school building. This time it worked. Late last week, the House of Representatives passed an economic stimulus bill H.R. 7110) that would have put about $12.8 billion into highways and $3.6 billion for mass transit, among other things.

 

Unfortunately, when coupled with the big bank bailout, the stimulus fell apart in the Senate, and the bill was dead for the year. Ok, so we didn’t win, but I don’t think we lost either. The fact that infrastructure funding was even considered is a huge step forward and proves we are starting to change the policymakers’ thinking. The fact that infrastructure made it into the bill, got a vote, and it passed one house – even bigger. Let’s pat ourselves on the back!

 

Sometimes you have to celebrate what victories you can – because the game’s too tough to keep playing and always losing. Yes, we have a long way to go, but it’s important to realize that we’re making progress. So let’s take a well-deserved victory lap and then get back in there so the next time we go all the way!

Posted by Allison D at 11:09 AM in infrastructure/
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