What PNCWA's representatives to the Fly-in will say:

America’s Water Infrastructure

Keeps the Economy Flowing, Keeps People Healthy

We call on Congress to

• Double funding for the Drinking Water and Wastewater State Revolving Loan Funds

• Pass legislation to reauthorize and boost funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act

• Increase funding for the National Priorities Water Research Grant program to $20 million

• Strengthen protection of the nation’s waters in the 2018 Farm Bill

• Increase funding for USDA’s rural water/wastewater loan and grant program

• Increase funding for the Bureau of Reclamation’s water recycling program to $60

  million

  For the economy’s sake

  Simply put, communities and cities cannot attract and keep business, industry or even population without adequate water resources and the technical, managerial and financial resources to manage water. Those resources are needed to treat drinking water and wastewater, manage stormwater and recycle water. Every $1 invested in water or wastewater infrastructure increases long-term gross domestic product by $6.35. Each job in water or wastewater construction or rehabilitation creates 3.68 more jobs in the nation.

  Conversely, not reinvesting in our nation’s water infrastructure would cost manufacturers and other businesses more than $7.5 trillion in lost sales and $4.1 trillion is lost GDP through 2040.

  For the public’s and the environment’s sake

  The investment and hard work of previous generations have provided us with some of the safest drinking water in the world. The Centers for Disease Control have ranked the disinfection of drinking water as one of the 10 most important public health developments in history. Our wastewater and stormwater systems have improved the safety of our sources of drinking, agricultural and recreational waters exponentially. We haven’t experienced the cholera or typhoid outbreaks that we did in the country’s early days, or that other nations experience even now. However, to sustain this progress, we must reinvest in our aging water infrastructure. We must also prepare for emerging challenges, such as water scarcity. Studies show that the country must invest at least $1 trillion each to drinking water and wastewater over the next 25 years if we are to maintain our current level of service.