Guest Columns

Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation in April that would help local drinking water and wastewater utilities adapt their infrastructure to prepare for the impacts of changing hydrological conditions. H.R. 5596, the Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act, would establish a newRead More

By Kristina Surfus The past year has been both an exciting and frustrating time for following federal clean water initiatives. This is particularly true for advocates of a strong federal funding partnership for clean water, like the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA). TheRead More

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the availability of funding that could provide as much as $5.5 billion in loans, which could leverage over $11 billion in water infrastructure projects through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. Prospective borrowers seekingRead More

President Donald Trump is fielding letters from Democrats in the House of Representatives who have called on the president to either fire U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt or urge him to resign. Scrutiny against Pruitt has reached a new high in recent days as theRead More

By Jim Baehr Spend wisely. This statement appears time and time again in everything from public commission reports to utility strategic plans and the day-to-day public discourse. Doing this isn’t easy and won’t get any easier. Awareness and Expectations Water utilities work diligently to enhanceRead More

In March, Congress approved an omnibus appropriations bill that includes big increases for U.S. EPA’s State Revolving Fund (SRF) and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) programs. The bill rejects President Donald Trump’s call to cut funding to EPA by upwards of 30 percent. TheRead More

In March, Democrats in the Senate released a $1 trillion plan to invest in America’s infrastructure — a plan in which the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) says clean water occupies a well-deserved front-and-center position in the infrastructure conversation. Specifically, the plan wouldRead More

| By Will Jernigan I often get asked the question, “How do leaks inform the decision to repair or replace pipeline infrastructure?” You may encounter this very question embedded in your asset management program. How does the break history factor into prioritization of line replacementRead More

By Julius Ciaccia, Jr. Over the last 40 years serving in top-level management for water/wastewater public utilities, I’ve been witness to a steady conversation about the broadening infrastructure investment gap in the drinking water and sewer industry. We continue to strike the mallet to bringRead More

In response to last week’s release of President Donald Trump’s $1 trillion-plus infrastructure proposal, Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives outlined a $1 trillion infrastructure plan of their own. The Democratic plan was included in a “Better Deal” policy package that supporters say willRead More