Aging and failing sewage treatment plants jeopardize human health, close beaches, harm fish and wildlife, and cost ratepayers and municipalities millions. Our nation’s sewage infrastructure is in disrepair, accumulating from long-overdue investments to improve sewage collection and treatment. Properly functioning sewage treatment plants are critical to keeping harmful pathogens and bacteria from polluting our environment and threatening public health. In addition to aging treatment plants New York and Connecticut suffer from stormwater overflows. A combination of overdevelopment and combined sewer systems lead to overflows and heavy run-off during storm events. Green infrastructure helps absorb stormwater, adds aesthetic value to neighborhoods and common spaces, and in urban areas helps mitigate heat island effect.
CCE’s Clean Water, Green Jobs campaign focuses on sewage infrastructure needs and opportunities to use green infrastructure. Both of these create jobs and benefit communities.
Clean Water Infrastructure Needs
Investing in clean water infrastructure in New York, Connecticut, and across the nation can help boost our economy and environment by creating jobs and improving water quality. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined the U.S. needs at least $388 billion for clean water infrastructure. Our nation’s publicly owned sewage systems are often out of sight, out of mind, only gaining attention when legal action is taken or violations occur. Sewage treatment operators often lack the necessary funds for proper maintenance and improvements, causing needed repairs to pile up. The costs in Connecticut and New York continue to grow:
- The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) estimates that $5 billion is needed to fund wastewater infrastructure projects over the next 20 years.
- The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) estimates that $36.2 billion is needed to fund wastewater infrastructure projects over the next 20 years.
Clean Water and Green Infrastructure Keeps Beaches Open and Protects Fisheries
Sewage contamination causes one quarter of all public beach closings in Connecticut, and about a fifth of New York’s closings. In 2008 sewage contamination ranks second, only to stormwater runoff, as the source of beach closures in both states. Addressing stormwater runoff through green infrastructure like vegetated swales, permeable pavement, and curb extensions will lower stormwater runoff events and in areas that have combined sewer systems it will reduce sewage contamination.
To protect fisheries in Long Island Sound, the Great Lakes, and other treasured water bodies throughout the region, discharged nitrogen from sewage treatment plants must be reduced to ensure life-sustaining oxygen is available for aquatic life. New York and Connecticut have worked to reduce pollutants to our fragile water bodies. For example, both New York and Connecticut have worked to reduce nitrogen contributions to the Long Island Sound; however, need consistently exceeds available funding. This is true all across New York and Connecticut.
Congress Must Fund Clean Water Infrastructure
Federal resources for water infrastructure will create jobs and fix sewage treatment plants to yield important benefits for local water quality and the economy. It is estimated that:
- Every $1 billion of federal infrastructure funding creates between 30,000 and 47,500 jobs.
- Through CT’s Clean Water Fund, 1,800 Connecticut jobs can be created annually.
Investing in clean water infrastructure projects is a win-win for our economy and our environment.
Clean Water Solutions Now and For the Future
To create new jobs and meet immediate clean water needs, Congress must invest in clean water infrastructure projects. To address the national backlog of water infrastructure needs and to ensure clean water for the future, Congress should establish a dedicated fund to support maintenance and innovation in wastewater management. Congress can also pass the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act (HR 4202).
How you can help:
Email your U.S. Senators, and your U.S. Representative, and tell them that you want clean water and green jobs by funding upgrades to our aging and failing clean water infrastructure and investments in sustainable green infrastructure.
Email tips:
- Tell your federal leaders why you value clean water and green jobs.
- Ask your U.S. Senators and your U.S. Representative to pass the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act (HR 4202).
- Ask Congress to establish a dedicated clean water infrastructure fund to maintain and modernize wastewater management.
- Ask for a response.
Write to:
- Your Representative in the U.S. House: Locate your representative
- Your U.S. Senators: Locate your senator
Please forward any response to to help us track progress on the issue.
Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs of New York State report issued by the New York State Department of Health in November 2008.
A Gathering Storm: New York’s Wastewater Infrastructure in Crisis, a 2008 report issued by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.
CCE is a member of the NYS Clean Water Collaborative, a task force convened by Governor David Paterson, to help address the wastewater infrastructure needs in NYS. View the New York Clean Water Collaborative resolution calling for more federal funding for clean and safe water infrastructure.
2009 NYS Intended Use Plan, which lists wastewater infrastructure projects in NYS that are approved and ready to go.
Updated by seckel 4/2/10