CHICAGO – Governments at all levels must step up their investment in water and sewer infrastructure to avoid a reoccurrence of the Flint water crisis, a panel told lawmakers Wednesday.

During a session at the annual National Conference of State Legislatures summit in Chicago, experts stressed the need for boosted funding for the country’s aging water systems. The session included discussion of the Flint water crisis.

“If you’re a legislator, I don’t think I have to tell you your constituents and various interests groups are coming to you every day asking for you to invest in the water and sewer infrastructure,” said John Covington, a financial analyst with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center. “I would encourage you not just look at the federal dollars…but there has to be a state investment. Every level of government is going to have to step up and provide some level of financing for these communities.”

Also joining the panel were Greg DiLoreto, chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, and former Rep. Chris Kolb, who co-chaired Governor Rick Snyder‘s Flint Water Advisory Task Force and is president of the Michigan Environmental Council.

DiLoreto said the ASCE’s report card rates America’s infrastructure – including water and sewer systems – every four years. Water and sewer infrastructure earned a D grade in the 2013 report card, up from D- four years prior.

“The fact is all water pipes in America are deteriorating and we have some 240,000 water main breaks a year in this country and that number continues to grow,” DiLoreto said. “Those breaks, along with other things, caused us to lose some 2 trillion gallons of water in the last year – so 14-18 percent of the water we treat. Folks, we’ve already paid to have this water treated and we’ve lost it.”

He said the group’s research shows the nation would have to invest $3.2 trillion by 2025 to adequately update such systems but that projected funding only provides about $1.8 trillion in investment.

To ignore such need, Kolb said, is to risk of reoccurrence of the Flint crisis where the failure to apply corrosion control treatment after switching the city’s water source from the Detroit system to the more corrosive Flint River allowed lead from lead service lines to leach into the water.

“Flint really brought together what can go wrong,” Kolb said, calling the situation “a toxic brew of ignorance, incompetence and arrogance.”

“One of the questions I get asked most is could Flint happen here?” Kolb added. “I’ve come to the conclusion that Flint could happen in other places…. So we know this is an issue across the country and we have to do something.”

Kolb encouraged lawmakers in all states to take advantage of federal funding resources and to learn as much as they can from water providers regarding the challenges they’re facing. And he urged policymakers to set their allowable lead levels beyond federal thresholds.

“The dollar amount is there, it seems huge, but it is doable if we do it right,” he said. “The challenge there is not to see the Safe Drinking Water Act as the ceiling but the floor and what can you do in your state to protect your citizens in your state?”

This story was published by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on www.gongwer.com