Nancy Stoner's Blog: Living Sustainably tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/nstoner//179 2009-02-27T10:14:03Z Movable Type Enterprise 1.52 Infrastructure of the Future tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/nstoner//179.2733 2009-02-17T14:49:11Z 2009-02-27T10:14:03Z Nancy Stoner  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.   

]]> Green Jobs for Clean Water tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/nstoner//179.2559 2009-01-26T16:30:31Z 2009-02-05T11:41:40Z Nancy Stoner Congress is about to make a decision that could affect whether your family and future generations will have clean streams to swim in, fish that are safe to eat, and safe, sufficient tap water to meet your needs.  What am I talking about?  It isn't environmental legislation.  It's the stimulus (or economic recovery bill). The purpose of the bill is to stimulate the economy and provide jobs for Americans, but it matters how we do that.  We should spend money on jobs that cannot be exported, that will employ people who wouldn't otherwise have jobs, and that will add value to the society as a whole.  I think water and wastewater fits the bill.  Thousands of jobs are created for every billion dollars spent - jobs that employ engineers, construction workers, plumbers, architects, maintenance workers, all kinds of skills.  These investments also provide long term benefits.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the federal government had a program called the construction grants program that built sewage treatment plants across the country.  Without that program, Lake Erie would still be dead, the smell from Onondaga Lake in Syracuse would still be overwhelming, and, here in DC the Potomac River would be a national disgrace.  Unfortunately, after several decades, that investment has pretty much run its course.  Now another investment is needed to add advanced treatment, replace decaying pipes, and to address problems that we didn't fix back then, like stormwater pollution and overflows from sewer systems that have sewage and stormwater in the same set of pipes.  We can also make our water and wastewater infrastructure more resilient in light of the impacts that we are already seeing from climate change, like more heavy storms, more flooding, and more widespread drought.  I especially like the kinds of projects that allow communities to invest in restoring their water resources and in reviving urban populations.  Planting trees, building green roofs, restoring wetlands, and putting in rain gardens all beautify communities and have been shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, raise property values, and provide wildlife habitat.

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