Water Professionals Deserve Your Appreciation

By Nadine Leslie

History records that comedian Rodney Dangerfield’s most famous line was “I don’t get no respect. No respect at all.”

There are many days and nights when the approximately 300,000 water professionals feel exactly the same way. Even though the work they do is perhaps the most essential for our very survival.

That is why National Drinking Water Week was founded roughly 40 years ago by President Ronald Reagan. The first week of May celebrates the work of all water professionals and it comes at a time when 341 billion gallons of fresh water is used daily in America, much of it treated and delivered by the more than 54,000 community water systems.

Nothing was more important during the COVID-19 pandemic than washing our hands frequently to stop the spread of germs. The purity and reliability of that water supply depends solely on the professionals who treat it, distribute it, and ensure its safe journey to your tap.

This year President Biden is seizing the moment to address our nation’s withered water infrastructure. It couldn’t come soon enough for it has been underfunded and unappreciated for far too long. That’s because we consider roads, bridges, and highways as infrastructure, but somehow water and wastewater get forgotten because they are sight unseen.

His new infrastructure agenda would change that, though, allocating more $100 billion dollars towards clean water and drinking water investments. The plan specifically prioritizes federal spending to upgrade America’s wastewater, stormwater, and drinking water systems through grants and low-cost loans.

These proposed investments recognize a long-standing truth: Ever since waterborne diseases were recognized and conquered during the 1800s, there has been little public appetite to significantly invest further in water works, making the job of the water professional even harder.

With pipes buried out of sight and treatment plants off in the distance, there is rarely a constituency that advocates on behalf of these systems. As a result, these fundamental advances in public health remain in the shadows, unheralded, unrecognized, and underfunded.

For decades, the cost of providing clean water services to protect public health and the environment has risen substantially. Combating environmental threats, installing new technology, and replacing the outmoded, outdated, and obsolete infrastructure costs significant dollars.

The federal investment has declined to be a meaningful partner in funding improvements. This has led to ever-greater costs to be managed by utilities and their customers.

Everyone gets the chance to read about the technological advancements of the new iPhone or the latest SpaceX adventure. Advances in water or wastewater treatment, most important to everyone’s daily lives, usually hit the ground with a great big thud.

With this new federal initiative, however, the country will be able to invest in critical infrastructure projects, advanced technologies, better water quality protection, and increased potential for new and exciting jobs in the water industry.

And, as someone who knows from personal experience that clean and safe water is key to controlling the spread of disease and addressing chronic health problems, I can tell you that all water professionals will be watching these new initiatives closely.

That is because they will ensure a healthy environment for our communities to thrive. Clean water remains vital to both health and economic opportunity, and our water professionals bring this essential to us each and every day.

Nadine Leslie is CEO of SUEZ North America, which provides water services and recycling and recovery services to approximately 7 million people in the U.S. and Canada.