As chair of the Clean Water Council (CWC), NUCA appreciates its alliance with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The ASCE is a very active member of the Clean Water Council and does more than its share to raise awareness about America’s dilapidated infrastructure, including water and wastewater systems. Widely recognized as a leader in construction industry advocacy for its “Report Card” on a range of infrastructure categories, ASCE also produces several studies describing the environmental and economic impacts resulting from our continued neglect of investment in critical infrastructure. The ASCE’s latest economic report doesn’t disappoint.

Report Card

Founded in 1852, ASCE represents more than 140,000 members of the civil engineering profession and is the nation’s oldest national engineering organization. With a mission to “provide essential value to our members and partners, advance civil engineering and serve the public good,” ASCE products and services aim to advance technology, encourage education, promote the profession of civil engineering and advocate for a range of infrastructure investment. Every four years, ASCE publishes the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, which assigns grades on a scale of A through F on the state of 15 infrastructure categories and provides 20-year funding needs estimates. Several media sources and numerous Congressional reports commonly refer to data from the ASCE Report Card. In 2009, the Report Card gave the nation’s wastewater and drinking-water infrastructure systems a grade of a D-minus.

Reporting on a “Failure to Act”

In its latest report on water infrastructure, ASCE sent a very clear message about what will, and will not, happen if the ongoing neglect to invest in water infrastructure is not reversed. Released in December, “Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Water and Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure,” reports that robust investment in our underground environmental infrastructure by 2020 will improve economic impacts on American businesses and households, save hundreds of thousands of jobs and improve Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as American exports.

The report indicates that increased costs to businesses and households will take several forms: water shortages that will lead to higher rates; additional expenses by businesses and households, including expenses to move to where infrastructure is still reliable; and an increasing reliance on self-supplied water and/or wastewater treatment. When traditional municipal facilities are not available, individual wells and septic systems could increase heath care costs due to a rise in water-borne illnesses caused by unreliable delivery and wastewater treatment services.

Specifically, ASCE estimates that without comprehensive efforts to address the ever-increasing funding gap between what is needed and what is spent on our water infrastructure, America will face cumulative cost increases between 2011 and 2020 of $59 billion to household budgets as water rates rise and personal incomes falls, and $147 billion to businesses due to inevitable water rate hikes. Between 2011 and 2040, the loss from increased costs and loss of productivity could reach $416 billion.

Importantly, ASCE notes that EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have tracked the 30-year incidence of water-borne illnesses. They report that 29 percent of households will pay more out-of-pocket expenses for doctor and/or emergency room visits and 71 percent of employers will take a hit due to lost productivity from healthcare related absenteeism. At a December hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, ASCE described the key points of its latest report.

“Our second report … answers the question of how the condition of the nation’s deteriorating wastewater and drinking-water infrastructure impinges on economic performance,” ASCE said. “In other words, how does that D-minus for water treatment and transmission affect America’s economic future? The answer is sobering. Water is vital. If it is not available, essential life activities cannot be sustained … But capital spending has not kept pace with needs, and if these trends continue, the resulting gap will only widen. As a result, pipes will leak, new facilities required to meet stringent environmental goals will be delayed, operations and maintenance will become more expensive and sources of water will become polluted.”

Challenges and Opportunities

NUCA fully agrees with ASCE. We supported their testimony in a written statement from the CWC to the Senate EPW Committee, underscoring the economic impacts and job creation that come with investment in this critical infrastructure.

NUCA wrote that “Congressional support of traditional water infrastructure financing through EPA’s SRF programs coupled with innovative financing through use of public-private partnerships … would result in a successful combination of public and private sector resources to repair and rebuild America’s underground environmental infrastructure, put the construction industry back to work and contribute to the Nation’s economic recovery.”

NUCA works hard on a variety of water infrastructure investment efforts, and because of our allies in the CWC, we are making a lot of headway. The ASCE’s latest report truly demonstrates how solidarity and strength in numbers makes all the difference.

Eben Wyman is the NUCA Vice President of Government Relations.