EPA Says Water Treatment Needs Outstrip Funding 

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman warned yesterday that demands for improved wastewater and drinking water treatment systems could outstrip current spending by $535 billion over the next two decades. Whitman said that while the country has made huge strides in cleaning up rivers, streams and other waterways since the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act, state and local governments face enormous challenges in maintaining and replacing deteriorating water treatment systems.

According to Whitman, capital spending and maintenance needs for wastewater treatment will exceed current spending levels by $270 billion through 2019, while demands for improved drinking water treatment facilities will exceed current spending by more than $265 billion over the same period. Municipal and regional governments, which finance 90 percent of water treatment systems, will have to boost spending by 3 percent a year over the rate of inflation to avert the massive projected spending gap, the study found.

CMAA and the WIN coalition have urged Congress and the Bush administration to support long-term federal funding for programs focusing on core water and wastewater infrastructure needs.

The report is at: 

http://www.epa.gov/owm/gapreport.pdf