In Baltimore, Questions About How Fed Can Save Infrastructure

Can the federal government fix the nation’s crumbling water infrastructure?

One thing is clear: States and cities cannot do it on their own.

Federal officials met with city policymakers at the Ashburton Water Filtration Plant in Baltimore last week to discuss the issue, according to WBAL Baltimore.

"There's a recognition that there's only so much the city can accomplish quickly, if you don't have the kind of dollars there to support the effort," said U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland.

"The federal part has to be there, or we can't get to the level of adequacy with respect to these systems that, frankly, the public deserves," Sarbanes said.

U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, from New York, noted that the infrastructure crisis in the eastern states is particularly pressing.

"Especially here in the East Coast, you have some of the oldest communities, you have wooden systems, brick systems," Tonko said.

The group called on the federal government to do more. It told Congress to “provide more funding for cities that could use extra help with water infrastructure,” WMAR reported.

Tonko introduced a bill in February aimed at the water issue. The AQUA Act makes the following changes to federal policy, per a statement from Tonko’s office:

• Authorizes significantly higher funding levels for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) so states get the resources they need to address their most pressing local water system needs.
• Increases funding for a grant program to remove lead pipes from public water systems. Lead pipes were banned more than three decades ago but there are still an estimated 3.3 to 10 million still in service.

How much funding is needed to fix the water infrastructure crisis?

“Restoring existing water systems as they reach the end of their useful lives and expanding them to serve a growing population will cost at least $1 trillion over the next 25 years, if we are to maintain current levels of water service,” according to the American Water Works Association.

State and local financial difficulties have challenged drinking water and wastewater funding.

“Between 2009 and 2014, state and local governments decreased capital spending for both drinking water and wastewater by 22 percent,” according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

To read more about the growing water and wastewater infrastructure problem visit Water Online’s Asset Management Solutions Center.