Imagine a Day Without Water
AWRA Joins Call to Action for Investment in the Nation’s Water Infrastructure
MIDDLEBURG, VA, OCTOBER 10, 2018
Today marks the fourth annual Imagine a Day Without Water, designed to raise awareness about the value of water. The American Water Resources Association (AWRA) joins more than 750 government, non-profit and business organizations to educate decision makers and inspire communities to put water infrastructure on the public agenda.
Across our nation, too many people rely on contaminated water supplies or systems, and aging infrastructure operating far beyond its predicted life-cycle. Proactive investment in water infrastructure is much less expensive than waiting for systems to fail. Yet such investment continues to fall short.
AWRA Board of Directors calls for national focus on water resources infrastructure by adopting two policy statements pointed squarely at water infrastructure needs in the United States. The first, is a reminder that private, non-profit, local, state, tribal, and federal investors all have a long-term role to play in the construction, maintenance, and resiliency of water resources infrastructure. The second urges water managers to take this opportunity to re-think how infrastructure could address multiple objectives and improve overall outcomes, employing not only traditional construction approaches, but exploring the use of alternative approaches and natural systems as well.
Reinvestment in water infrastructure equals opportunity. The good news is that closing our nation’s water infrastructure gap would generate over $220 billion in total annual economic activity, create and sustain over a million jobs, and guarantee our public health and environmental safety. Americans widely support increased investment in our nation’s water infrastructure. National polling shows 88% of Americans support increasing federal investment to rebuild water infrastructure, and 75% of Americans want Congress to invest in our nation’s water infrastructure before our systems fail. No other issue facing our public officials has such a broad consensus.
Everyone deserves safe, reliable and accessible water. With solid planning and investment, it is possible to make imagining a day – or living a day – without water, a thing of the past. As AWRA President Brenda Bateman notes, "Our answers to 'Who gets the water, how is the water used, and how clean is it?' say a lot about who we are as a society."