wateronline.com
n
Water Innovations
Bleeding Blue:
Issues, Opportunity
Greet New
AWWA President
EDITOR'S LETTER
By Kevin Westerling
Chief Editor, editor@wateronline.com
6
A
irtime for water industry issues used to be a rarity in mainstream news, but
that has changed of late — a development that is not particularly welcome,
considering that bad news makes for good copy. ("If it bleeds, it leads.") The
long shadow of Flint's lead crisis is still being cast over the industry, compounded
by the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2017 Report Card that graded the U.S. a D+
overall (matching its last ASCE grade in 2013), including a D+ for drinking water and a D
for wastewater. We had drought, then floods, emerging contaminants of concern — PFOS/
PFOA, 1,4-dioxane, and hexavalent chromium all grabbed headlines — the upheaval of
the U.S. EPA, and, in a bit of good news, some federal acknowledgement and action on
infrastructure needs. To be sure, water is now a national storyline.
Which is all to say that this is an important time for the industry and, by extension,
the American Water Works Association, its 50,000 members, and its new president (as
of June), Brenda Lennox. After 26 years of service, Lennox recently retired as manager
of customer and support services from the Tualatin Valley Water District in Beaverton,
OR, and has since joined RH2 Engineering (Bothell, WA) as strategic relations
manager. She is, therefore, no stranger to addressing questions or dealing with crises,
suiting her perfectly for a Q&A; on the state of the water industry in an era of rising
consumer concerns and high-profile issues.
AWWA advocated strongly for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act
(WIFIA), which was finally signed into law. What impact do you project, and what is
AWWA's next objective on the financing front?
It's still very early in the program, so it's difficult to project the impact it's going to
have. But we've been working hard to facilitate contact between utilities and the EPA,
so that they can discuss potential projects and submit letters of interest.
Certainly, the one thing we do know is that WIFIA's leveraging impact is enormous.
Of the $17 million that's been made available to seed loans, WIFIA leverages federal
dollars, so that for every dollar Congress appropriates, $50 to $60 is expected to be
loaned out. That means up to $1.02 billion could be available for loans. That's a lot
of capital projects that can begin moving forward. Our hope is that utilities will take
advantage this year and demonstrate the need this program addresses, so that we can
justifiably encourage Congress to increase funding even more.
Lead is another hot-button issue, drawing scrutiny since Flint. What is the current state
of America's lead issue in terms of scope and potential for resolution?
A recent study that ran in the Journal AWWA showed that there are 6.1 million lead
service lines (LSLs) still in use in the U.S. This number is a bit daunting, and it shows that
overcoming this problem is not going to be easy.
Initially, resolving the problem is going to take strengthening the protections that we
101 Gibraltar Road, Suite 100
Horsham, PA 19044
PH: (215) 675-1800
FX: (814) 899-5587
Email: info@wateronline.com
Website: www.wateronline.com
CHIEF EDITOR
Kevin Westerling
(215) 675-1800 ext. 120
kwesterling@vertmarkets.com
PUBLISHER
Travis Kennedy
(215) 675-1800 ext. 122
tkennedy@vertmarkets.com
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Patrick Gallagher
(215) 675-1800 ext. 129
pgallagher@vertmarkets.com
PRODUCT MANAGER
Bill King
(215) 675-1800 ext. 100
bking@vertmarkets.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Angel Clark
(814) 897-9000 ext. 285
aclark@vertmarkets.com
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Lynn Netkowicz
(814) 897-9000 ext. 205
lnetkowicz@vertmarkets.com
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Susan Day
(215) 675-1800 ext. 101
sday@vertmarkets.com
DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE
DEVELOPMENT
Martin Zapolski
(814) 897-9000 ext. 337
mzapolski@vertmarkets.com
DIRECTOR OF
ONLINE DEVELOPMENT
Art Glenn
aglenn@vertmarkets.com
Reprints, Eprints, and NXTprints
The YGS Group (800) 290-5460
VertMarketsReprints@theYGSgroup.com
www.theYGSgroup.com
ADDRESS CORRECTIONS
Send to Water Online at above address,
or email circ@vertmarkets.com.
Please give old and new address,
and enclose or reference your
latest mailing label.
Copyright © 2017, VertMarkets, Inc.