More on Troubled Waters

by Lisa McLean

Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, the nation's leading river conservation organization, reflects on a recent water main break:

The water main break that flooded River Road in Montgomery County was a terrifying event that trapped motorists in rushing water and debris and forced schools and businesses to close. It is fortunate that nobody was seriously injured or killed, and the rescuers should be commended for their swift and skillful response. While the break may have seemed like a freak accident, the warning signs were there all along. Unfortunately, this disaster is part of a larger trend.

America's water infrastructure -- our pipes, wastewater and drinking water systems, dams, and levees -- is crumbling and outdated and has been ignored for decades. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave a D-minus grade to the water and wastewater systems that protect Americans' health and safety -- the lowest grade of any infrastructure category.

This isn't the first time the Washington area's aging water infrastructure has been in the news. Montgomery County had another wakeup call in 2006 when rising waters from heavy rains threatened to rupture the Lake Needwood dam in Rock Creek Park. Roughly 2,200 people downstream of this "high hazard" dam had to be evacuated while construction crews patched holes at the base of the earthen dam with gravel and sandbags.

It is time to bring our water infrastructure into the 21st century. The economic stimulus efforts being considered by President-elect Barack Obama and Congress provide an excellent opportunity to make the water infrastructure investments that Montgomery County and other communities around the country so desperately need. Not only will these investments create good jobs that can't be moved offshore, but they also are necessary to protect public health, safety and national security.
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The River Road water main break and the Lake Needwood dam scare were frightening enough. We don't need any more wakeup calls. The time for smart water infrastructure investments is now.

Comments

[Acton]

Earmarks have not been stimulus in the past. Stimulus is created by broad economic policies that encourage investment in the economy -- tax changes, better return on investment. With everyone waiting for the next stimulus package, there is no investment; everyone is waiting for the bailout check. We need corporations, municipalities and states -- with the Federal government's help only for the basket cases -- to roll up their sleeves and start investing for tomorrow.