Value of Water Coalition Promotes Infrastructure

On May 22, the Value of Water Coalition sent a letter to President Obama expressing gratitude for his acknowledgement of the importance of water infrastructure to the nation’s economy and urging him to continue to highlight the importance of this often “invisible” infrastructure. The coalition’s campaign is intended to increase public awareness of water as an important resource.

As a founding member of the coalition, the Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.) signed the letter along with other coalition members: American Water (Voorhees, N.J.), the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (Washington, D.C.), the American Water Works Association (Denver), CH2M Hill (Englewood, Colo.), MWH Global (Broomfield, Colo.), the National Association of Water Companies (Washington, D.C.), United Water, (Harrington Park, N.J.), the U.S. Water Alliance (Washington, D.C.), Veolia Water (Paris), and Xylem Inc. (Rye Brook, N.Y.).

The coalition helped organize Infrastructure Week 2014, held May 12–16 in Washington, D.C. The week explored emerging solutions, innovative approaches, and best practices to modernize aging infrastructure. On May 14, the coalition hosted the panel discussion, From Invisible to Invaluable: Changing the Way We Think About Water Infrastructure. Panelists — George Hawkins from DC Water (Washington, D.C.), Ken Kopocis from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Tony Parrott from Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, Ed Pinero from Veolia North America, and Mark Strauss from American Water — discussed the current condition of water infrastructure in the U.S., the consequences of letting these systems deteriorate more, and solutions to meeting challenges. Watch the panel discussion below or at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CdBmaIFZ_4.