EPA Reports on the Importance of Water to the U.S. Economy
November 7th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency released a new report titled “The Importance of Water to the U.S. Economy.” The report concludes that, as a nation, we do not currently reflect water’s true worth in the economy. A great example is the fact that communities across the country are low-balling the cost of clean, safe tap water. Simply, the rates you and I pay for water are too low. Of course, no one likes hearing that, but if we want the water to keep flowing, we are going to have to price water as the critical resource that it is. As with any utility, the concern is that when it is undervalued, “business-as-usual” will eventually be unsustainable. In the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, ASCE gave both Drinking Water and Wastewater a “D” grade. These two grades were largely due to the fact that America’s pipes and sewers are sometimes nearly a century old. As one can see, this aging means that the need is growing while the utility itself does not bring in enough money to finance its own operation. This topic is not new to ASCE. In our series of economic reports, titled Failure to Act, we found that if America continues down our current path, with no new investments in water infrastructure, we will lose $416 billion in GDP by 2020 due to increased costs and loss of worker productivity. Households and business would bear the burden, losing $59 billion and $147 billion respectively over that time span. By 2020, the average family budget would be squeezed by $900 as water rates rise and personal income falls. The lesson of Failure to Act is the same as we see in the EPA report: the cost of inaction is unacceptable. EPA Assistant Administrator Nancy Stoner says the main findings of their report are: 1) Water is absolutely fundamental to the U.S. economy 2) Water value and competition will rise, and 3) Decision-makers in the private and public sectors need more information. The first two conclusions are well taken, and worth repeating; however, the final conclusion does not go far enough. There is ample information—from ASCE, from the EPA, and from other groups—that explains why water is undervalued. What the public and private sector needs is awareness. Replacing the nation’s antiquated pipes will require significant local investment, including higher water rates. Just as with fixing a leaky roof in your home, the longer we wait, the more it will cost. The EPA’s report should serve as yet another call to action for all levels of government to invest in our water infrastructure now.Tags: economic study, infrastructure, jobs, report card, water
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ASCE Hails Passage of Water Resources Reform and Development Act as Linchpin in Modernizing Nation’s Ports, Inland Waterways, Dams and Levees
October 24th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Washington, D.C. — The following is a statement from Randall (Randy) S. Over, P.E., F.ASCE, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), regarding the passage of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act by the U.S. House of Representatives: “The American Society of Civil Engineers applauds the bipartisan passage of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA). The bill promotes economic growth and job creation through policies that strengthen U.S. infrastructure, allowing the nation to remain competitive in the 21st century. “ASCE’s 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure graded the nation’s ports a C, inland waterways a D-, dams a D, and levees a D-. Our nation’s water resources are critical to our economy, our infrastructure, public safety, and the preservation and enhancement of our environmental resources. In fact, ASCE’s Failure to Act economic study on the nation’s marine ports and inland waterways shows that underinvesting in just these two sectors threatens more than one million U.S. jobs and $270 billion in U.S. exports by 2020. “When signed into law, WRRDA will drastically reduce the time it takes for project approvals by consolidating or eliminating duplicative studies, permitting concurrent reviews, and streamlining environmental reviews. The reforms in the law are not at the expense of environmental quality and will allow for a stronger, safer national water resources infrastructure. In addition, ASCE strongly supports wording in the bill that will incrementally increase expenditures out of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund so that our nation’s ports can remain competitive on a global level. “ASCE is pleased that Congress has collaborated to pass WRRDA and invest in America’s future. This decisive action will ensure that our nation’s ports, waterways, dams and levees receive the funding they require. We look forward to working with the conference committee as it develops a final Water Resources Development Act for the president’s signature.” Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 145,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society. For more information, visit www.asce.org.Tags: economic study, infrastructure, ports, report card, water
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New National Geographic Event Offers Opportunity to Reexamine Electric Grid
October 23rd, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
On October 27th, the National Geographic Channel presents American Blackout, a two-hour programming event that imagines the first two weeks immediately following a catastrophic blackout from a cyber-attack on the United States that takes down the power grid. This movie should serve as a stark reminder about the importance of our electric grid. At ASCE, we are concerned with what we can control, such as investing and upgrading of our mostly antiquated power grid. While the film is indeed impactful, the great news is that we—you, me, and our elected officials—can control the reliability and vitality of our nation’s electricity. In the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, ASCE awarded the nation’s Energy sector a D+. Today, the U.S. relies on an aging electrical grid and pipeline distribution system, some of which originated in the 1880s. While demand for electricity has remained level, the availability of energy will become a greater challenge as the population increases. As part of our efforts to better understand the importance of infrastructure, we conducted a series of economic studies we call “Failure to Act” that look at how underinvestment hurts our economy. Unless the investment gap is filled, blackouts and brownouts will increase costs for households and businesses. If we close the gap in investment (at total of $107 Billion) in our power system, we can protect 529,000 lost jobs and $656 billion in lost personal income by 2020. Solutions for our energy needs are prevalent. We need to be more lenient in the siting of new transmission lines that will relieve congestion and facilitate the transfer of electricity from renewable energy sources as we phase out our backbone of coal fired power plants. We must reduce the long and costly permitting process that unfairly target overhead power lines; when a transmission line can cost up to ten times as much to permit it than it does to build it, we have a problem. And finally, we need political leadership at all levels to have the courage to invest in our systems, assure reliability, and plan for the overall life-cycle costs of this critical infrastructure. Only by working together can we hope to improve our energy grid and avoid an American Blackout.Tags: economic study, energy, infrastructure, report card, sustainability
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