The need for increased investment in the infrastructure that supplies safe, clean, and reliable water has never been more critical.
Just as COVID-19 is the most severe and disruptive health crisis in generations, it is also threatening the financial stability of water suppliers providing an essential public health service. Water utilities are faced with an extraordinary combination of increasing costs to meet needs and falling revenues resulting from declining commercial use and personal financial strain on ratepayers, according to the American Water Works Association (AWWA), nationwide these unprecedented pressures are projected to cost water utilities in the range of $13 billion to $15 billion.[1]
The RWA has identified 150 water, groundwater, recycled water, and wastewater projects that its members are ready to construct over the next year. These range in cost from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars, totaling $1.2 billion in vital public investment.
Projects would:
- Generate almost 20,000 jobs
- Rehabilitate aging facilities and develop new infrastructure
- Implement pilot projects to demonstrate alternative “green” technologies
- Build resiliency and develop a more reliable water future for a growing Sacramento regional economy
Learn more:
- Fact sheet on the need to invest in water now
- Interactive web tool that allows users to view all projects or filter according to project type and other factors
- Viewpoints article by Fair Oaks Water District General Manager Tom Gray on providing an essential public service during the coronavirus emergency (Comstock’s Magazine, June 2020)
[1] Fiscal Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on U.S. Drinking Water Utilities, American Water Works Association
