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A new report issued by the Johnson Foundation called Financing Sustainable Water Infrastructure concludes that the financial health of our water systems is directly linked to their long-term sustainability.
Frequent readers of our blog will know that we often discuss the gap that exists between the need for capital investment in the water/wastewater sector, and the availability of both the necessary capital as well as the ability to repay debt. Indeed, our most recent blog post, Water Rate Affordability (Dec. 26, 2011), presents a [...]
In a couple of presentations I’ve given in the past few months, I’ve talked about one of the key drivers in the water and wastewater utility industry being a pending shortfall in the labor pool. One of the leading indicators of a shortage is not the lack of employable people, but rather the lack of [...]
So much has been said about our nation’s failing water infrastructure that another blog post would hardly do the topic justice. We’ve done plenty of them here already (here, for example). There have been many who have done well to help us identify the problem, and the problem is an imminently solvable one. We know [...]
Readers of this blog know by now that the financial impact of water and sewer infrastructure needs in local communities is a big one. For moderately sized utilities, the impact is big enough, for very small utilities, the impacts can be completely unmanageable as seen in the below linked article from The News Star in [...]
With all the discussion right now over the federal debt ceiling, the topic of government debt has rightfully been placed in the public square for debate. Regardless of your position on the federal debt ceiling or on the federal budget deficit in general, it is a fallacy to equate all government debt as having been [...]
Here’s a nice reminder of things that happen when water infrastructure fails. The video says it all…
StepWise Utility Advisors was honored today to lecture at the Wyoming Association of Municipalities hosted this year in Sheridan, Wyoming. Our workshop, entitled Ahead of the Curve: Beating the Infrastructure Funding Gap with Sustainable Management Practices is a detailed discussion that offers municipal water and sewer utility owners with tangible steps for producing sustainable financial [...]
StepWise Utility Advisors is proud to be a Gold Sponsor for the upcoming Wyoming Association of Municipalities conference in Sheridan, Wyoming. The conference will run from June 8 through June 10th. We will be participating in all of the conference activities and presenting a 90-minute presentation during the technical session. Jason Mumm, president of StepWise [...]
President Obama’s 2012 budget will include provisions for a national Infrastructure Bank. In comments provided at the US Treasury blog, Treasury Secretary Geithner said that the bank would leverage private money to “…support projects that produce significant returns on our investment.” The structure of the infrastructure bank, based on the blog post, appears to include [...]
I recently gave an interview to writers at Waterwideweb.org. The resulting article is worth a good read, as are the comments.
One of the interesting debates in the water industry these days is how, when, why, and how much private equity can be brought to bear to address our growing water investment needs. As readers of our blog would note, US water systems are faced with daunting shortfalls in financing for developing new water supplies, and [...]
Here is a video from CNN reporting on water infrastructure issues. I would note the human story at the beginning about the victim of water main break. One of the problems with our water/sewer infrastructure is that the consequences of failure are not often seen or felt. The frequency of failure has historically been low [...]
I had an opportunity to speak on a very distinguished panel of experts today at the Colorado Contractors Association. The topic was funding of water and sewer infrastructure in the US and the panel was presented by WIN Colorado (http://wincolorado.org/). Other panelists included Ann Terry (Colorado Special District Association), Sam Mamet (Colorado Municipal League), and [...]
Public Works magazine is one of many, perhaps the latest, reporting on the huge gap in funding between our water and sewer infrastructure needs and current annual spending. The problem isn’t new. Water and sewer infrastructure have been aging unabated for 50 years or more and its no surprise to anyone that water pipes, pumps, [...]
If you watched 60 Minutes (CBS) on Sunday 12/19 then you heard a story about how the States are in big trouble with their budget deficits that renowned Wall Street analyst Meredith Whitney says is likely to lead to a wave of municipal bond defaults. The prologue for failing municipalities looks like this: the State [...]
Another example of how expensive it can be when infrastructure fails. In this case, a water main break covered an entire house in ice.
Once again we have a graphic image of what happens when infrastructure fails. The costs of infrastructure failure are not localized to utilities. Sometimes, the costs become very personal, as is the case here. You can read the full story from this event here http://www.wtop.com/?sid=2187215&nid=25
Here’s is an aerial photo of a home that has been engulfed by a sinkhole caused by a sewer pipe failure. The cost of underground infrastructure failures is much higher than average people want to believe. Sinkholes are one type of failure; water main breaks and other types (or, modes) of failure can have devastating [...]
It’s not that affordability hasn’t always been a concern, but a recent look at some important data now suggests that affordability has become a major concern for providers of water and sewer utility services in the US. For the first time since the 1950′s, personal income in the United States has experienced negative annual growth [...]
At last count (and still counting), the US Federal Budget deficit stands at $1.43 trillion, and the national debt is now $13.2 trillion. Those are big dollars, but the US is a mighty economic engine even in these recessionary times. Still, the national debt is now over 90% of the nation’s entire economic output for [...]
In a report published in February, the US Conference of Mayors is predicting that spending on water and wastewater systems will increase by by as much as four times. Depending on how fast the country’s population grows, spending could double, triple, or quadruple, according to the report. We’ve posted the full report here, which is [...]
The latest NY Times article on water infrastructure does a good job of demonstrating the seemingly impossible issues between the great need for reinvestment in water and sewer infrastructure, the reluctance of the government owners of those systems to actually pay for that investment, and the increasing consequences of infrastructure failure. The article focuses on [...]
In a recent Op-Ed in the NYT, writer Bob Herbert regales us with the story of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell who is evidently on a personal crusade to cure America’s infrastructure crisis. An advocate for increased investment in infrastructure, we are told that Rendell personally increased Pennsylvania’s infrastructure spending by roughly triple only to see [...]
As water and sewer infrastructure across the country ages, deteriorates, and eventually fails the cost of replacing it all becomes a growing concern. The cost of replacements is fantastically large, and it doesn’t help that these needs have been largely unplanned, meaning that these large costs tend to come as a shock to oblivious rate-paying [...]
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