Developing America's Water Road Map Whitepaper.pdf (original) (raw)

Water security in the U.S. is increasingly threatened. Many utilities are facing major supply issues (water quantity and/or water quality), aging infrastructure, and major funding shortfalls. In the last decade, prolonged droughts and floods from Texas to California to Colorado to the Mississippi to the North--East have stressed our water storage and flood control infrastructure, and led to considerable environmental, social and economic impacts. Groundwater depletion continues unabated in much of the country. The pollution of water bodies and their ecosystem impacts are increasing costs for the treatment and supply of urban water. Aging pipes and urban water infrastructure lead to increasing rates of main breaks and the potential for contamination of treated water supplies. On top of all this, water revenues have been declining due to decreasing per capita demands and political pressure in many areas. Historically, the federal government was a major investor in public works and water infrastructure, securing the health of the citizenry. Today, local communities and states struggle with the increasing costs of providing water, and the maintenance of these aging systems. The tragedy of Flint, Michigan reflects the confluence of these economic and physical factors. Yet, threats to water supply and quality violations may be set to repeat in different ways across the nation. A fragmentation of responsibility for addressing floods, droughts, reservoir operation, ecosystem demand, water allocation, and water and wastewater provision, across a myriad local, state and federal agencies, whose mandate relates to water, contributes to the challenge of developing water solutions locally or nationally. Water is seen as a local issue, until it is a regional, national, or global concern.