Comment pubs.acs.org/est
Making America’s Water Infrastructure Great Again
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n his victory speech, United States President-Elect Donald Trump indicated that he would propose a program to rebuild the nation’s transportation infrastructure. Before the U.S. heads down this path, the new administration would be well served by recalling that the Obama Administration took a similar approach in 2009, when they spent about $50 billion on highways, airports, and public transportation. As any user of the nation’s dilapidated airports and highways can attest, the U.S. still needs to upgrade some of its worst performing transportation links, but the lesson of the recent past is that filling potholes and shortening airport security lines does not create a lasting impact on a country. As a practical matter, an economic stimulus plan should create jobs. From a political perspective, it should address issues of concern to voters, especially those who are members of key constituencies. More importantly, in the long run it should enable economic expansion, build civic pride, and enhance national security. Spending on transportation would create jobs and address issues of immediate concern to voters. It also might minimize costly delays associated with the inefficient movement of people and goods. However, it will not engender civic pride or protect the country. Directing some of the stimulus at critical water infrastructure would be a much better way to realize the type of transformative impact that the President-Elect promised in his speech. Assuming a stimulus package with a total value of $425 billion (i.e., half of the total amount spent on the 2008 stimulus package), the allocation of less than a quarter of those funds, coupled with matching funds from state and local sources, could bring the nation’s water infrastructure from the D grades given to water infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers to solid B’s. Consider the following “shovel-ready” investments: 1. Get the lead out. The new administration can put aside the question of who was responsible for the lead problems in Flint by making sure that this will never happen again. According to the American Water Works Association, the price tag for removing the remaining lead service pipes from the nation’s drinking water systems is about $30 billion. 2. Drought-proof the nation’s most vulnerable cities. Rapidly growing cities, from Tampa and Atlanta in the East, to Denver and Dallas in the Central Region, to San Diego and Phoenix in the West, are the lifeblood of the nation’s economy. These and other cities have been experimenting with new strategies, like water reuse and desalination, which do not rely upon drought-prone imported water sources. If the U.S. invests $1 billion in each of the ten most vulnerable cities it will substantially reduce the likelihood of economic damage during a prolonged drought. 3. Flood-proof the nation’s most vulnerable cities. The system of levees and dams that protect America’s cities from hurricanes and storms is in desperate need of an overhaul. The damage associated with Hurricane Katrina © XXXX American Chemical Society
and Superstorm Sandy slowed economic growth, increased insurance premiums and decreased coastal property values. Cities that are essential to the economy, like Houston and New York, are still vulnerable. By investing $4 billion in each of the five of the country’s most vulnerable cities the U.S. could decrease the risks to property and the economy posed by flooding. 4. Protect the nation’s most vulnerable cities and military bases from rising seas. It does not matter that some members of the new administration are not convinced that humans are responsible for climate change. Rising seas are encroaching on the shores of cities, like Miami, and vitally important military bases, like the U.S. Fleet Command at Naval Station Norfolk. Strategic investments are needed to keep high tides out and to protect critical infrastructure from coastal erosion. A total investment of $10 billion in five cities and five military bases would be a meaningful down payment on a project that will likely require several generations to complete. 5. Fix the Mississippi River watershed. Neglect of the system of canals, streams, and rivers that feed the Mississippi River has led to more frequent flooding, unreliable river transportation, and soil erosion. Runoff from farms in the Mississippi River watershed has also contributed to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico that has decimated the region’s fishing industry. An investment of $10 billion could protect Midwestern cities, increase farm productivity and help restore the Gulf fisheries by rebuilding locks and canals and restoring wetlands that capture floodwaters, eroded soil, and excess nutrients. 6. Upgrade rural water systems. A lack of investment in the water systems in agricultural communities and small cities has led to a situation in which many U.S. citizens routinely experience developing world drinking water conditions. New technologies, that are affordable and reliable, could be used to upgrade failing water systems and prevent spills like the one that took the city of Charleston, West Virginia’s water system off-line and diminished confidence in the safety of community drinking water systems. Strategic investments of $10 billion could be used to bolster loan programs and provide grants for economically struggling communities to upgrade their water systems to twenty-first-century standards. All of the programs described above could produce an immediate economic stimulus, alleviate problems that have frustrated Americans for decades and enhance the nation’s security. The cost estimates included above, while imprecise and do not account for local contributions, suggest that substantial progress could be made without crowding out other elements of a comprehensive stimulus package. An administration that prevents future Flints, alleviates fears that rapidly
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b05926 Environ. Sci. Technol. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Environmental Science & Technology
Comment
growing cities could run out of water, helps cities dodge the next superstorm, pushes the high tide back out to sea, fixes the Mississippi River, and assures that citizens in rural communities have access to safe drinking water truly will have made America great again.
David Sedlak, Editor-in-Chief
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. The author declares no competing financial interest.
B
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b05926 Environ. Sci. Technol. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
