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This might sound like a clich? but it happens to be very true: no one notices water infrastructure when it?s working. Buried neatly beneath the ground, these networks of pipes supply our homes and businesses with the vital clean water that life requires.

Culverts and storm sewers have been a part of our infrastructure even before the advent of the federal highway system in the 1940s and 1950s, when the demand and the necessity for drainage pipes sprang from the growth in the number of automobiles traveling the roadways.

Tucson Water has been the City of Tucson?s municipal water utility for more than 100 years. As a public water provider, Tucson Water serves approximately 710,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers within a 350-sq-mile service area.

In July, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), along with U.S. Reps. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced ?W21: Water in the 21st Century,? legislation that would help communities nationwide better prepare for the future by providing new incentives and investments to help residents, businesses and local water agencies to conserve, recycle and manage limited water supplies.

In late July, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the fiscal year 2015 Chairman?s recommendation and explanatory statement for the Department of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.

California voters this November will decide whether to approve the sale of $7.5 billion in bonds to fund water projects in the drought-afflicted state, after the Legislature last month passed and Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a spending package now headed to the ballot.

The Water Council and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have entered into a partnership to bring together North America?s investment community and water technology entrepreneurs to match capital with water innovation.The partnership includes a $225,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase as part of the company?s recently launched Small Business Forward initiative ? a national, five-year, $30 million grant program meant to boost small business support networks that help growing enterprises in specific industries.

Thomas W. Smith III, M.ASCE, CAE, was selected as the next executive director of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), effective Jan. 1, 2015. The decision was made at an Aug. 24 meeting of the ASCE Board of Direction in Denver.

In July, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that $2 million in conservation funds will be sent to Ohio to help implement conservation techniques that will help improve water quality. The Secretary said USDA is also partnering with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to expand ?boots-on-the-ground? capacity in the area and will be contributing an additional $1 million in technical assistance which will in turn be leveraged by the NFWF along with other public and private entities.

Adjusting to changing market realities, CH2M Hill Cos. Ltd. will cut back its 26,000-person global staff by 5 percent ? about 1,200 positions ? as part of a restructuring it will implement over the remainder of 2014 and early 2015.