US Water Infrastructure Spending Push

The White House estimates that $600 billion will be needed to address US water and wastewater infrastructure improvements in the next two decades.

According to an article in The Hill, Vice President Biden is set to announce a trio of new Federal initiatives designed to spur new infrastructure spending on the nation’s drinking and wastewater systems.

These initiatives include:

• A new Water Finance Center at the Environmental Protection Agency – to work to connect local governments and utilities with federal grants for water and wastewater system improvements

• The Department of Agriculture is announcing the ‘Rural Opportunity Investment Initiative’ to attract private funding to rural water and other rural infrastructure projects

• A new type of municipal bond is proposed – the ‘Qualified Public Infrastructure Bonds’ which will allow for public-private infrastructure projects to raise municipal bonds

Whilst these proposals will take some time to come on stream, it is clear that significant new water infrastructure funding streams are being organized.

Given that infrastructure asset management is appropriate best practice for municipal and utility investment and management, and given the current federal requirements via EPA and Federal Highways –  it is likely that this funding will come with requirements to develop asset management plans as part of the approval.

If you think that your municipality or utility will want to access these funding streams then undertaking some infrastructure asset management analysis, and developing asset management plans would be a very good starting point, and allow your agency to get ‘ahead of the curve’.

Inframanage.com is here to help you and assist with your education in the practice of infrastructure asset management.  

Our free education subscription area would be a good place to start.