ERMUSR Misc 05-10-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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placed. Professionals in the public works arena have known that when urban infrastructure needs to be replaced because of wear and obso- lescence, it is difficult to draw ade- quate public attention and mone- tary resources to these needs. This is particularly true in the wider context of reinvestment needs in other sec- tors (e.g., transportation and health). This worry stems from the fact that infrastructure wears out over time and is invisible to most people. Over the past several decades, major national studies of water infra- structure have been conducted (NCPWI, 1987a, 19876; WIN, 2000; USEPA, 2002; CBO, 2002). These studies predicted a growing need for reinvestment in infrastructure. They also emphasized meeting those needs to prevent a funding gap from which it would be difficult to recover. The authors of these studies were preoc- cupied with quantifying the national scale of the problem in terms of bil- lions of dollars. Although the num- bers vary between studies, the con- sistent result was the need for sustained increases in investment. Although these infrastructure studies documented the prospect that a funding gap could arise, media cov- erage required more newsworthy headlines, i.e., that a huge gap already exists and our infrastructure is falling apart. The media knows that afull-blown crisis draws more attention than a potential one. Some utility managers regard such news coverage as a victory until a jour- nalist shows up at the door to ask why a crisis has been allowed to develop in the first place and who is to blame-with cameras rolling. Even if it appears to work once, the crisis approach is not the sus- tainable funding mechanism needed for water infrastructure renewal. If the issue is framed in this way, util- ities may be backed into a corner, and sustainable solutions may be out of reach. To say there's a crisis is like saying there's a fire. Once it's doused, it's expected that the crisis is over. While developing the most recent AWWA Water Utility Council report (AWWA, 2006), the authors polled utility managers and public affairs professionals to gain a sense of cur- rent opinions (see sidebar on page 110). Broadly summarized, utility managers believe they are in the dif- ficult position of trying to convey a need for sustained action to prevent catastrophic conditions from devel- oping, while other community needs are made to seem more pressing. Managers are very concerned that the true value of water and waste- water infrastructure is underappre- ciated. They believe that a long- term commitment to funding the renewal process, rather than a short-term response, is needed to ensure sustainability. Public officials were also polled. They generally believe that water util- ities provide good, reliable service. Their impressions of water infra- structure issues (see sidebar on page 114) are, for the most part, locally based and not distracted by national media. Although they believe they should "do the right things" to sup- port utility managers in funding needs and educating the community, they note many stark realities that enter into the picture. First and foremost, locally there are competing demands for funding. In this environment, visible, tangi- ble, and immediate public benefits matter most. The relative lack of vis- ibility of buried pipes and the long- term nature of the renewal process are noted as impediments to mobi- FIGURE 1 Replacement cost value lin 2001 dollars) of pipe assets for 20 utilities, plotted in the historical year in which they were installed (A), and projected ramping up of pipe replacement investment needs in the twenty-first century (B) 600 soo 0 0 400 E 300 o zoo U too c 0 E I 0 v A B Source: Dawn of the Replacement Era: Reinvesting in Drinking Water Infrastructure, AWWA, 2001. CROMWELL ET AL ~ 999 JOURNAL AWWA ~ APRIL 2007 111 0 O O1 W n t0 ~ Q ~ N O OI m n tD f` r O O O N c7 R N O tD n W T 00 d0 W 00 O1 T 01 Of C~ T 01 O Ol Ot O .- ~ .- ~ r Year .- .- ~ .- o n e m ~n N m m e7 0 ~ v co 0 o N N co a s ~n io n r, ao a, rn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Year