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ASCE Members Advise Federal Government on Water Information Programs
September 2nd, 2014 | By: Whitford Remer
ASCE members Martha Juch, P.E., D.WRE, and Robert Schreiber, P.E., BCEE, D.WRE participated in the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) annual meeting last month in Reston, Virginia. The advisory committee’s mission is to improve water information for decision making for natural resources management and environmental protection. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the primary federal agency charged with overseeing the committee. Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at USGS, challenged the committee last week to begin focusing on building out a new project called the Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI). The initiative seeks to compile water metadata into to a central database that is open to the public. Currently, water data is collected using various standards and is often stored on a specific project website, in a state database or withheld by a single agency. The hope is OWDI will standardize the collection practice and make the data open and easy to access through the central database. The OWDI is one of several open data initiatives currently being pursued by the Administration. In May 2013, President Obama signed Executive Order 13642 “Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information” to increase public accessibility to scientific data collected by the federal government. OWDI is modeled after the Open Climate Initiative. ASCE will continue to support important open government initiatives, particularly those that increase the public’s ability to access scientific data.Tags: science, USGS, water, Water Resources
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Planning America’s Energy Future at ASCE 2014 Shale Energy Engineering Conference
July 24th, 2014 | By: Whitford Remer
This week, ASCE’s inaugural Shale Energy Engineering Conference was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It included three days of plenary panels, technical sessions and a visit from the Commonwealth’s Governor, Tom Corbett. In his remarks, Governor Corbett reminded the audience that 10 years ago the United States was an importer of natural gas, and today, those pipelines are literally being reserved- with Pennsylvania leading a movement to export gas abroad. Gov. Corbett went so far as saying the rapidly growing natural gas industry in the United States “can change the geopolitics of the world.” But the Governor also issued a stark warning that engineers must be stewards of the environment saying “we look to you to be the guardians of how to do it right.” ASCE President-Elect, Bob Stevens said the Conference allows for diverse stakeholders to come together and focus on “growing working relationships across the industry,” specifically pointing out that there were multiple organizations that create shale extraction standards presenting together, including the American Petroleum Institute and National Council of State Legislators. The Marcellus Shale Coalition estimates energy companies have invested more than $500 million on road upgrades in the region, proving that our infrastructure future cannot be solely focused on one sector over another. America’s energy future is in the hands of many, including civil engineers, and it is a responsibility Conference attendees showed that they relish.Everything You Need to Know About the 2014 Water Resources Reform Development Act
June 17th, 2014 | By: Whitford Remer
President Obama last week signed a $12.3 billion water resources bill that will modernize critical water infrastructure while also promoting economic growth and job creation. The Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA) authorizes 34 new Army Corps projects, establishes a new loan financing program, strengthens levee and dam safety programs and codifies new reforms to the project review process. There are a number of significant victories for ASCE and the nation’s infrastructure. The legislation is the first major water resources bill in seven years and is being applauded by organizations across the spectrum. 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-. ASCE lobbied Congress to pass the bill and is particularly supportive of the Levee Safety Initiative and The National Dam Safety Program. The national Levee Safety Initiative will promote consistent safety standards, create levee safety guidelines and provide funding assistance to states for establishing participating levee safety programs. WRRDA authorizes $395 million to support levee safety initiatives and $70 million over five years for dam safety. Once funded, these programs will provide critical resources necessary to improve the safety of the nation’s dams and levees. The bill also solves long standing expenditure issues in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF). WRRDA authorizes that 100% of funds collected by the HMTF to be allocated to the intended purpose (dredging the nation’s ports and harbors) by 2025. Previously only a fraction of funds collected by the fund were used to support port and harbor programs. The bill also allocates 10% of HMTF expenditure for emerging harbors. WRRDA makes a number of changes to the popular Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and creates a new water financing pilot program similar to TIFIA for surface transportation projects. The new SRF provisions provide loan flexibility, lower interest rates and extended repayment periods of 30 years. SRF funds may also now be used to implement watershed plans, water conservation, stormwater recapture, and for technical assistance to small and medium treatment works. A significant win for the engineering community is the requirement for the use of the Brooks Act qualifications based selection for A/E services or an equivalent State qualifications-based requirement (as determined by the Governor of the State when using SRF fund). ASCE has worked to include this provision for over 10 years. The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) is intended to increase flexibility for non-federal interests and leverages private sector investments to increase the effect of federal funding. The new WIFIA program can be used for traditional clean water and drinking water project, and also will provide assistance to projects with the goal of reducing flood damage; restoring aquatic ecosystems; improving inland and intracoastal waterway navigation systems. Finally, the bill includes new reforms at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that codifies a new internal expedited project delivery process that limits feasibility studies to 3 years at a cost of no more than $3 million in federal funding. ASCE applauds Congress for their bipartisan work passing WRRDA. We look forward to working with appropriators to ensure these programs and projects are properly funded.Tags: clean water, dams, economy, levees, sustainability, water, waterways, wrrda
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