News

AGC Partners Raise Awareness and Urge Additional Funds for Water Infrastructure

The Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) Coalition sent a letter to Senate leaders today asking for inclusion of additional funding for waste water Infrastructure when the package is considered in the Senate. 

 

AGC partner NACWA has identified $17 billion dollars worth of shovel ready projects and estimates that there are at minimum $20 billion in projects that water agencies are ready to start in the timeframe required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  The WIN Coalition letter asserts that water infrastructure projects are shovel ready  contrary to widely refuted Congressional Budget Office Report  claiming that money for infrastructure projects could not be spent in a timely manner and would not make significant impacts on employment.

 

AGC Allies at the American Water Works Association have also taken issue with the CBO report and are making appeals for the Senate to increase funding for drinking water infrastructure. The AWWA has identified at least $10 billion in “shovel ready” drinking water projects and have  sent a letter to the U.S. Senate asking for increased funding for drinking water.

 

AGC applauds Senator Benjamin Cardin(D-MD) and 11 other Senators for advocating for increased funding to the tune of $32 billion for water infrastructure and the acknowledgement that the ARRA is a prime opportunity to put Americans back to work and invest in our national water infrastructure.

 

In other water news, T&I Water Subcommittee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson(D-TX) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) have distributed copies of the AGC funded documentary Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure  to all 535 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.  This is an example of Congress and industry working together to educate Congress and the Public about the tremendous challenges facing our water infrastructure. 

 

Click here to read the WIN Coalition letter: 1-23-stim-inouyecochran2

Click here to read the letter from Senator Cardin: cardin-letter-final1

 

For additional information please contact Perry L. Fowler at fowlerp@agc.org or at (703)837-5321.