In The Arena America's Urban Water Crisis

Ed Lee is mayor of San Francisco. Annise Parker is mayor of Houston.

Someone smart said that in the game of life, only Mother Nature is undefeated. But while we have little control over Mother Nature’s whims, we do control the network that moves one of her resources ­— water — to where it’s needed.

America was built on top of water and wastewater pipes and tunnels. And today, that foundation is crumbling right under our feet. Last year, the American Society of Civil Engineers said U.S. water and wastewater systems are close to failing. It’s now estimated we’ll need to spend $4.8 trillion over the next 20 years to fix these systems and maintain the country’s current water service levels, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.


Despite this, the federal government continues to ignore the problem. In fact, federal spending on water infrastructure is down more than 30 percent since fiscal year 2012.

Doctors think a person can survive without water for about three days. If our water infrastructure fails, how long could the American economy survive?

In agriculture, readily available water turns meager crop yields into booming harvests. It strengthens the root systems of feedstocks, which helps fatten livestock populations. Greater food supplies lead to fuller markets and, ideally, lower prices for consumers. They also increase supply for exports, strengthening the U.S. balance of trade.

Water, which is used to cool power plants and extract and process fuels, is also at the core of ongoing efforts to increase domestic energy production and lower our reliance on foreign energy sources: Equipment manufacturer GE reports a tripling in demand for water for energy production since 1995.

And water infrastructure investment means jobs. In San Francisco, since 2007, the $4.6 billion investment in the region’s water system rebuild has employed 11,000 workers and counting. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates each of those jobs created locally creates 3.68 jobs in the national economy. Each public dollar spent yields $2.62 in economic output in other industries.

But for all the harm water-system failure could do to the national economy, local governments alone shoulder the burden: 98 percent of infrastructure improvements for water and sewer are paid for by local public agencies and their ratepayers.

In our two cities, the urgency of the problem is palpable.

In 2013 alone, Houston lost more than 22 billion gallons of water — 15 percent of the city’s total water supply — due to leaking pipes. That same year, there were 100 water main breaks in San Francisco.

And the pressure will continue to build, as, by 2030, global demand for water is expected to exceed supply by as much as 40 percent, according to the Water Resources Group.

As a nation, we need to do something. In a resolution at the U.S. Conference of Mayors earlier this summer, mayors from across the nation outlined a number of ways Washington can get to work, including:

1. Fully funding the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Authority pilot program that was established in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014, which was recently signed into law. Additionally, allow large utilities to utilize tax-exempt bond funds as a portion of the required match for eligible projects. WIFIA provides low-interest loans, loan guarantees and other credit support for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. If San Francisco had access to a program like WIFIA, it would have saved $700 million for residents and ratepayers on its recent water system rebuild.

2. Passing legislation to establish a National Infrastructure Bank. Congress and the Obama administration have both proposed a bank to provide low-cost financing for infrastructure projects of regional significance. Estimates suggest an initial endowment of $10 billion to start the bank could provide up to $160 billion in financial assistance over a decade and leverage an additional $320 billion-$640 billion in infrastructure projects financed by the private sector.

3. Creating a program for water workforce development, training and education to ensure there is a pool of qualified professionals to meet current and future needs. After all, it’s projected that in the next 10 years, roughly one-third of all water and wastewater utility workers will retire, according to a recent Water Research Foundation report.

We’ve spent time in the tunnels underneath our cities; we’ve seen the looming problem up close.

To protect our neighbors, strengthen our national infrastructure and keep America competitive in the global economy, we need to invest in water and wastewater infrastructure. Now.