When we think of efficiency and conservation, most of us immediately think of our electric use and how many miles we can go on a gallon of gas, but how many of us think about our water consumption? I am a water resources engineer, so my hand goes up, but most people don’t. And I’m not talking just about how much water we consume on a given day, but also about the amount of water wasted every day simply trying to get it to us.
Our deteriorating infrastructure is in the news lately, but there is little talk of our water and wastewater infrastructure. Roads, bridges, airports and our electrical grid tend to take center stage. While each of these are important to our public safety and wellbeing, our water and wastewater infrastructure are at least as vitally important to our public health and sound environmental stewardship. I would also argue that our water and wastewater infrastructure is in much more dire shape than these other public investments.
In many parts of the world (and even in some corners of the U.S.), water is considered a very scarce and valuable resource. Given this fact, why don’t we invest more in upgrading deteriorated distribution systems, more efficient water and wastewater treatment systems, water reclamation and recycling systems?
On September 6, the Obama administration proposed allocating $50 billion to infrastructure projects. This is a good start, especially if the money is earmarked for water and wastewater infrastructure. It’s time for the engineering community to start speaking up about the desperate needs of our water and wastewater systems.
