Special Briefing: America's $900 Billion Water Crisis

The discussion centered on the importance of robust infrastructure for sustainable water management, the need for federal support and innovation in financing and updating water projects, the challenges posed by aging infrastructure, and the integration of new technologies to address issues such as water scarcity, pollution, and the impact climate change continues to have on water resources.

“This is a time when water could actually bring people together because the need is so obvious,” said former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ). “There was bipartisan support for the infrastructure bill, and so this is a matter of modifying and taking that support and moving into something even more critical than roads and bridges –– our supply of water to areas of the country that don't have it.”

“It's amazing how much the water industry has changed in the last ten years and certainly 20 to thirty years looking back, but the concept of reusing water, particularly in the West and other parts of the world, is… new… it’s a technology that's growing,” said Howard Neukrug, Executive Director of The Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania. “Energy is the biggest user of water in the U.S., and water is the biggest user of energy in any city. So, a big part of the water industry right now is looking at how we become energy independent.”

Doug Evanson, Executive Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer, San Antonio Water System, discussed a new water supply project in San Antonio that was recently completed to meet the growing demand for freshwater thanks to a unique public-private partnership structure. His experience with the project may serve as a case study for successful water infrastructure development across the country.

“The VistaRidge water supply project [in San Antonio] has been recognized nationally as one of the largest public-private partnerships to be constructed in North America,” said Evanson. “The project is essential for San Antonio meeting its demand requirements in 2023 and could not have been completed without the public-private partnership structure.”

“Ever since the Clean Water Act, since 1976, federal funding towards the water sector has shifted away from 15% to 5% now. [That funding gap] has been pushed on the local communities and local governments to address the challenges that they face,” said Reese Tisdale, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bluefield Research. “The pie is only so big, and it needs to be cut up into a number of different slices. According to Bluefield Research, when we look at it, we're looking at about $175 billion dollars of capital and operating expenditures that have to be paid out in a given year that will continue to rise.”

“Around Fifty-two years ago, the Clean Water Act resulted in $200 billion in federal water infrastructure investments over a 10-year period, and that investment was incredibly successful in cleaning up our water,” Nicole Lick, Senior Life Scientist, Water Division, United States Environmental Protection Agency Mid-Atlantic Region. “But it also means that our water infrastructure is aging and nearing the end of its lifespan and requires upgrades or replacement.”