The time to modernise water spending in the US is now

摘要

Billions and trillions! Lobbyists and potential funding recipients are absolutely giddy these days over all the theoretical dollars being bandied about by Congress and the Biden administration as they work to reach agreement on sweeping infrastructure legislation. The process has fallen prey to politics -no surprise - and we still don't know how much, or when, money will ultimately be directed to the water sector (see p12 for Paul Hosier's take on the current state of play). However, it's a decent guess that Congress will authorise $25-50 billion in new water funding (above current levels) over the next five years - not a trillion, but not bad for a sector viewed as perpetually underfunded. However, digging further into the details may serve to curb your enthusiasm - or motivate you to get more involved in the process. I am pushing for the latter. Here's why I'm holding off on the champagne for now: 1) Reading the legislative proposals offers a cautionary tale on Congress' propensity to create new bureaucracy versus efficient spending; 2) Federal and state water programmes do not have the capacity to quickly funnel all this largesse into the market; 3) Most fundamentally, the frenzied approach to getting this done means that we are more likely to revert to the mean, funding business as usual instead of using this once-in-a-generation opportunity to drive transformational change and a more sustainable water future.