Sustainable Infrastructure for Clean and Safe Water

Approved by the Board of Trustees, April 2005

We have made tremendous progress toward achieving national water quality goals since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. High levels of wastewater treatment are the norm throughout the United States and we enjoy one of the highest levels of water quality in the world. Despite this progress, water pollution still persists. According to EPA's 1998 Water Quality Inventory Report to Congress, 44% of assessed estuaries and 35% of assessed rivers and streams have impaired water quality due to a variety of sources, including inadequately treated wastewater. One of the most critical issues facing Americans is how to improve and maintain our infrastructure to ensure that we fully enjoy the health, economic and social benefits that clean and safe water provide. Infrastructure problems associated with aging pipes, outdated systems, and inadequate capacity to meet growing population demands are requiring many communities to make huge investments in upgrades to their water and wastewater infrastructure systems. According to the EPA, the costs associated with these upgrades range from a low of $485 billion to a high of $896 billion over the next twenty years. These amounts are beyond the capacity of some municipalities to shoulder alone. If this challenge is not met, EPA estimates that by 2016 water pollution levels could be similar to levels observed in the mid-1970s.

WEF Position
The Water Environment Federation supports a three-pronged approach to solve the infrastructure challenge facing water and wastewater utilities: First, utilities must be well managed and appropriately funded to ensure long-term sustainability of collection, treatment and distribution systems; second, there must be a significant and continuing federal investment commitment; and, third, the general public and business community must play a larger role in ensuring that utilities continue to effectively serve their communities.

Utilities must be well managed locally to ensure long-term sustainability of collection, treatment and distribution systems: The first line of defense in ensuring Americans enjoy the benefits of clean and safe water is ensuring our local water and wastewater utilities are well maintained and operated with sufficient local support. Specifically, WEF supports:

• Strong professional staff that are viewed as advocates for clean and safe water in the community and on the state and federal level. In addition, utilities must have employee development and training programs that ensure utility staff possess the skills needed to manage, operate and maintain the utility using best practices;
• Full cost-of-service pricing systems that encourage local communities to establish rates that reflect, to the maximum extent practicable, the system's true life-cycle costs, including debt service, and that can support long-term management needs;
• Sustainable management approaches, including asset management and environmental management systems, that proactively ensure long term viability of each component of the system while simultaneously ensuring compliance with local, state and federal environmental regulations;
• A culture of constant innovation and research into new technologies and management approaches that support best management practices, including conservation, efficiency and reuse; and a system to ensure transparency and public participation so the utility remains accountable to ratepayers and the general public.

• Reauthorization of the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Programs (SRF) with a significant increase in appropriations to more closely reflect financing needs that exist;
• Improved administration of State Revolving Funds, that streamlines the application process, provides increased flexibility to States to determine, with public input, project eligibility and environmental compliance standards, and encourage innovative partnerships that bring diverse stakeholders together for more effective broad-based solutions; and reduces paperwork burdens on communities;
• Flexible forms of financing, made available by states on the basis of need, to assist communities that do not have the rate base to support conventional or SRF loan financing costs. These include extended loan terms, loan forgiveness programs and grants. Communities in need often include low-income communities and small communities or those facing costly environmental challenges such as correction of CSO and SSO problems or meeting new TMDL and security requirements. More comprehensive affordability criteria should be developed for states to use in allocating SRF financing;
• A dedicated revenue source for the SRF could ensure that federal investment in water infrastructure is consistent and no longer solely depends on annual discretionary appropriations. WEF believes that any dedicated SRF revenue source identified should be broad-based, related to clean and safe water, and should not impose a national tax on local water and wastewater ratepayers.

• In addition to increased funding for the SRF, assuring infrastructure sustainability will require increased federal support for States to administer clean water programs, including support for watershed based approaches; federal support for technical assistance to small communities; increased federal investment for research and development of treatment and infrastructure technologies and asset management strategies that improve the life-cycle of wastewater treatment systems; and federal support for the development of a national program to educate the public about the benefits and economic importance of water and wastewater infrastructure.

• Entering into partnerships and cooperative relationships with the business community to develop innovative, cost-effective solutions to infrastructure sustainability. Public/private partnerships should not be restricted or hindered by tax laws, grant conditions or other federal requirements. Public-private partnership decisions should be made locally based on what local officials determine is most appropriate for preserving and enhancing the water environment;
• Elected officials and non-governmental organizations, including public health organizations, advocacy groups, business associations and other civic organizations, playing a leadership role in highlighting the importance of water infrastructure and continued investment in it;
• A continued commitment from WEF to continue public outreach among all stakeholders to increase the public's support for investment in infrastructure for clean, safe water.

WEF recognizes that no single solution addresses the full range of clean water infrastructure and related challenges. All levels of government and the private sector must share responsibility for effective, efficient, and fair solutions to protecting our nation's waters.

About the Water Environment Federation 
Formed in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with 35,000 individual members and 81 affiliated Member Associations representing an additional 50,000 water quality professionals throughout the world. WEF and its member associations proudly work to achieve our mission of preserving and enhancing the global water environment.