The pundits all debated whether the stimulus bill should change policy or just create jobs, but when it comes to funding water and wastewater infrastructure, it did both.  The final legislation put $6 billion into funding ready-to-go water and wastewater projects that are expected to create up to 200,000 jobs for engineers, plumbers, construction workers, landscape architects and maintenance workers.  But it didn't just put that money into the conventional infrastructure of the past - the pipes, pumps and sewage treatment plants that use biological treatment approaches dating from the era of the First World War. Congress was right to fund maintenance of the conventional water and wastewater infrastructure system, which provides basic sanitation services that keep sewage out of our basements, streets, and waterways and provide effective filtration for tap water.  But Congress not only funded rehabilitation of the decaying existing infrastructure, but also directed funding to green infrastructure and water and energy efficiency.  While the text is sparse, these words mean a lot.  They mean that Congress understands that saving water also saves energy and reduces greenhouse gases.  They mean that Congress has recognized that trees, soil and types of vegetation are part of the "natural infrastructure" that provides safe, sufficient water resources for human and ecosystem use indefinitely.  This is, in my view, a pivotal shift from the old thinking in which people destroy and then try to replace the functions provided by nature to one in which people harness the bounty provided by nature for free and work to protect and enhance it, not just because it is good for the earth, but because it is the cheapest, most effective way to meet human sanitation and drinking water needs.  Congress has given its first glimpse of 21st Century sustainable water infrastructure in this bill.  It is a beautiful sight.