Our friends at the American Water Works Association (AWWA) have just released a new comprehensive report echoing the call for investment in water infrastructure. They found that the
massive investment needed for buried drinking-water infrastructure in the United States totals more than $1 trillion between now and 2035.
The need will double from roughly $13 billion a year today to almost $30 billion (in 2010 dollars) annually by the 2040s, and the cost will be met primarily through higher water bills and local fees, according to the AWWA report.
“Buried No Longer: Confronting America’s Water Infrastructure Challenge” is a call to action for utilities, consumers and policy makers and recognizes that the need to replace pipe in the ground “puts a growing stress on communities that will continue to increase for decades to come.”
The AWWA report reinforces the ASCE analysis released in December 2011 that concluded that a failure to increase investments in wastewater and drinking-water systems will have a devastating effect on the U.S. economy by 2020. However, the report found that a modest increase in investment can protect $416B in GDP, prevent 700,000 job losses, and avoid personal income losses of $541B.
ASCE’s report, Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Water and Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure, can be read here.