Spreading the Economic Benefits of Water/Wastewater Investment

At the request of Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), I participated on the “Rebuilding and Renewing America” Water Infrastructure Forum held last month at Portland State University. The impetus for the forum was his introduction of bipartisan legislation to establish a Water Trust Fund for investing in America’s broken drinking water and sewage treatment systems. The Water Protection and Reinvestment Act (H.R.3202) would establish a $10 billion annual fund for repairing America’s corroded pipes and overburdened sewer systems, which pose serious health, environmental and security consequences. As one of five people speaking on water infrastructure from different perspectives, I was asked to talk about the impact that H.R. 3202 would have on jobs and the economy. I was well prepared to do that thanks to the Clean Water Council’s (CWC) recently released report titled Sudden Impact: An Assessment of Short-Term Economic Impacts of Water and Wastewater Construction Projects in the United States.

As a utility contractor, I can easily appreciate the economic impact of a billion dollars of federal investment in water/wastewater infrastructure. What surprised me about the report findings however was the fact that a national investment of $1 billion creates job opportunities that are spread across the economy with more than one-half of the jobs created in industries other than water/wastewater construction. These industries include those that provide the products and services needed for infrastructure project completion.

When one stops and thinks about all the manufacturers and suppliers we rely on to operate a utility construction company, one begins to see just how far the money gets dispersed. And, taking into account how our employees and those of our vendors further redistribute the money through their own spending, we begin to visualize the true extent of infrastructure investment’s ripple effect.

I point out all of the foregoing to encourage you to use the Buyer’s Guide in this issue when you need to make a purchase or secure a rental. (Since it covers more than 100 categories — everything from air monitors to excavators to utility locating — whatever you need is likely to be there.) One of the best ways we can benefit our industry and enhance the ripple effect is to support the manufacturers and suppliers on whom we depend to get the job done. And don’t forget, the timely delivery of essential materials, advice on what to purchase and how to put it to best use these vendors often mean the difference between success and failure.

Looking to the future, I also want to encourage you to cultivate face-to-face relationships with some of these same vendor partners at Utility Construction EXPO ’10 — All Together Now, which will be held Jan. 10-13, 2010, at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. See page 86 for more details. As Henry Ford once said: “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Regards,


     Lyle Schellenberg