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American Water Works Association WateReuse Assocation of California Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies |
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| Perhaps the most important infrastructure systems are those that bring us clean water for our homes, industries and farms. Our present water collection and distribution system is consistently safe and reliable, but not risk-free. Between 1994 and 1995 alone, drinking water systems around the state reported 570 health violations or instances of exceeding Environmental Protection Agency violations for inadequate filtration or disinfection. In 1999, the state Department of Water Resources' 10-year capital improvement forecast called for more than $1.6 billion in spending to ensure delivery of clean water. The department is also faced with the daunting task of expanding holding capacity to meet future needs. Water Resources estimates that by the year 2020, demands for water will more than double, creating a statewide shortage of up to 4 million acre feet in a typical dry year. That's more than double the amount of water the Bay Area uses in a year. Downstream, local water districts face the same problem. In 1996, for example, the Santa Clara Valley Water District estimated a water supply shortage of 10,000 acre feet by the year 2020. To offset these shortages, the state's water recycling program needs more investment. This comes at a time when the California Resources Control Board estimates a need for $8.4 billion for local wastewater treatment improvements. It also comes at a time when many of our cities have water mains, sewers and storm drains that are more than 100 years old or that have not expanded enough to meet new demands. In 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that in the next 20 years, the United States will have to spend nearly $140 billion on our drinking water systems. For example, the Hetch Hetchy water system serving 2.3 million people in the Bay Area, including almost 800,000 in in San Francisco, needs $2.3 billion repairs, prompting water officials to announce that customers' water rates would have to double to provide funds for the repairs. The alternative is for voters in San Francisco and the 29 suburban agencies that buy Hetch Hetchy system water to pass millions of dollars in new bonds to replace the system's aging water pipes. In 1997, San Francisco voters authorized $300 million in system repair bonds, but the city has not issued them pending final improvement designs. Much of the system was built in the 1920s and 1930s, with expansions in the 1960s. San Francisco water officials say the system needs more than $1.7 billion alone to improve reliability. According to the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, no less than $330 billion must be spent over the next 20 years to bring our nation's water and wastewater systems up to safe, modern levels. Local communities, which shoulder 90 percent of wastewater infrastructure costs nationwide, are facing staggeringly expensive wastewater needs. Meanwhile in the Bay Area, a consortium of water agencies called for boosting wastewater recycling to bring 240,000 acre feet of recycled wastewater to most Bay Area counties by 2025. An acre foot is enough to supply two average households for about a year. Currently, the counties of San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa recycle no more than 20,000 acre feet a year. The consortium estimates that the Bay Area could require up to 400,000 acre feet of recycled water a year by 2025 to meet the demands of the region's population. Despite all this, there was good news on the water front this March when voters approved Prop. 13, authorizing a state bond issue of $1.97 billion for projects designed to expand, improve and preserve our water supply. Many water districts plan to use the money to replace or rebuild parts of their 50-year-old or more infrastructures. Updated Jan. 28, 2001 |
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