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The Washington Post
Copyright 2002, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, October 1, 2002

A Section

Whitman Says Water Treatment Needs Outstrip Funding; EPA Study Cites Burden of
Maintaining and Replacing Aging Infrastructure
a Washington Post Staff Writer

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman
warned yesterday that demands for improved wastewater and drinking water
treatment systems could outstrip current spending by $535 billion over
the next two decades. Whitman said that while the country has made huge
strides in cleaning up rivers, streams and other waterways since the
passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act, state and local governments face
enormous challenges in maintaining and replacing deteriorating water
treatment systems.

"Much of America's drinking and wastewater infrastructure is aging,"
Whitman said in an address to the Water Environment Federation in
Chicago. "There are cities in America still using pipes that were laid
when Lincoln was president."

According to Whitman, capital spending and maintenance needs for
wastewater treatment will exceed current spending levels by $270 billion
through 2019, while demands for improved drinking water treatment
facilities will exceed current spending by more than $265 billion over
the same period. Municipal and regional governments, which finance 90
percent of water treatment systems, will have to boost spending by 3
percent a year over the rate of inflation to avert the massive projected
spending gap, the study found.

Ken Kirk, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan
Sewerage Agencies, said the EPA study is in line with industry findings
and highlights the need for "a serious, long-term [financial] commitment
from the federal government."

Water treatment industry leaders have urged Congress and the Bush
administration to support long-term federal funding for programs
focusing on core water and wastewater infrastructure needs.

Over the past two decades, communities have spent $1 trillion on
drinking water treatment and supply, and wastewater treatment and
disposal. While this spending has been substantial, it may not be
sufficient to keep pace with an expanding and geographically shifting
population, according to experts. In recent decades, the federal
government has provided more than $19.7 billion in capital funding to
states for wastewater treatment projects and $3.6 billion for clean
drinking water programs, according to the EPA.

Treatment plants typically have an expected useful life of 20 to 50
years before they must be expanded or rehabilitated, while pipes have
life spans ranging from 15 years to well over 100 years. Some East Coast
cities have pipes in use that are almost 200 years old.

"The magnitude of the challenge America faces is clearly beyond the
ability of any one entity to address," Whitman said. "It will require
the participation and contribution of government at all levels,
utilities and users."