FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Frederick J. McNeill, P.E.
February 15, 2012 (603) 624-6341 / (603) 235-6626 cell
Water Matters!
IS NEW HAMPSHIRE’S WATER INFRASTRUCTURE READY FOR OUR FUTURE?
Local Water-Related Professionals Meet to Discuss the State’s Infrastructure Systems
Concord, N.H. – “Water Matters!” was the theme of a breakfast meeting Wednesday at the Holiday Inn. A collaboration of water-related practitioners, including scientists, engineers, attorneys, advocates, legislators, and administrators are discussing the many ways in which water affects our lives in New Hampshire, the current state of our infrastructure, and the investment needed to ensure proper management of water resources in the future.
There is nothing more vital to our society than water. How we manage drinking water, stormwater, dams, and wastewater are critical to every New Hampshire citizen, business, and community. Each household pays a small cost for drinking water and wastewater services, but, in communities with shared systems, the full cost of the required infrastructure for water management is far greater, and state support has been reduced dramatically in recent years.
“New Hampshire’s water industry is faced with aging and failing infrastructure, increased regulatory requirements, and no source of sustainable funding,” said Fred McNeill, Chief Engineer for the City of Manchester’s Environmental Protection Division. “So we are reaching out to our legislators through this breakfast to educate them about the needs of the water industry, which is so closely tied to New Hampshire’s high quality of life.” Mr. McNeill was moderator for the breakfast meeting.
Engineer Michael Metcalf, President of the NH Water Works Association, noted: “Throughout the state, both large and small community water systems are faced with the need to upgrade aging or obsolete equipment to continue to supply safe and reliable drinking water – but for many of them the money simply is not there. We recognize that these are difficult economic times but feel that a high priority should be placed on maintaining our drinking water infrastructure. Individuals may have to pay some more, but they can’t do it alone. As a matter of public health, a long-term sustainable funding solution for water infrastructure is an absolute necessity”
“The collaboration of professionals at this meeting was formed to raise public awareness of the impact crumbling infrastructure is having on our daily lives,” said Darren Benoit, chairman of the 2011 New Hampshire’s Infrastructure Report Card by the New Hampshire Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. “For too many years we have underinvested in our state’s infrastructure. With each passing day, the inability of our state’s aging infrastructure to meet the needs of our growing population further threatens our economy and quality of life.”
Speakers joining McNeill and Metcalf at the meeting included James Gallagher of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) Dam Bureau and Exeter Public Works Director Jennifer Perry.
Mr. Gallagher’s slideshow noted that the state’s surface waters, most of which are controlled by dams, annually provide $1.5 billion of value to the economy and $250 million in property taxes. Yet 48 state-owned dams “require some construction at a total estimated cost of approximately $16.5 million.” He noted there are also scores of municipal and private dams that DES monitors that need upkeep.
Ms. Perry presented the perspective of one town, Exeter, and the costs the community is facing for keeping up with required water infrastructure: Great Dam, the groundwater management plant, and water mains alone will cost the community $23 million in the next few years, and a new wastewater treatment facility, required to meet more stringent discharge regulations into the Great Bay ecosystem, is estimated at $80 million.
A question and answer discussion with professionals, legislators, and other attendees followed the presentations. DES Commissioner Thomas Burack provided closing remarks.
The “Water Matters!” program was videotaped and will be shown on Concord TV and other community cable channels around the state. See cooperating organization websites for further details: http://ascenh.org/ or www.nhwpca.org.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Key water management themes of the breakfast meeting include:
Drinking Water. New Hampshire is experiencing significant population growth. While much of the growth will occur in areas that will be not be directly served by public water systems, this growth will put public demand on our core urban areas for retail services and employment. The potential impact of failing water distribution systems was brought home last December when a
12-inch waterline, installed in 1901, ruptured on Beech Street in Manchester undermining nearly 200 feet of roadbed under this heavily traveled thoroughfare. In addition to disruptions in traffic, more than 25 homes were without water service. Similarly, in September, a 14-inch water main burst on North State Street in Concord, again disrupting traffic and impacting 12 homes. Water infrastructure is not just a local issue. The state must resume fulfilling its commitments to the towns and we need to move forward with the establishment of a federal water infrastructure trust fund to provide a reliable source of federal assistance for construction and repair of the water infrastructure.
Dams. There are currently 2,621 dams in New Hampshire, of which 841 are classified in an elevated hazard category due to the potential financial loss or loss of life in the event that it fails. This year during tropical storm Irene the Campton dam provided anxious moments as the storm surge threatened to breach the dam and endanger parts of the town of Plymouth downstream. Because the state only owns less than 10 percent of the dams in New Hampshire, only limited resources are available for meeting the capital needs of municipal and privately-owned dams. In addition to public safety and direct financial loss in the event of failure, dams are a vital part of New Hampshire’s economy. New Hampshire’s lakes provide up to $1.5 billion dollars annually of economic benefit to the state, with the majority of our surface waters controlled by dams. The state needs to develop a long-range capital program that addresses the need to repair, reconstruct, upgrade and operate the aging population of state-owned dams.
Wastewater. Much of New Hampshire’s wastewater infrastructure was constructed between 1972 and the mid 1980s, and the majority of these facilities are nearing the end of their design life. In 2008, it was estimated that nearly $1.3 billion dollars in investment was needed for wastewater infrastructure. The leading wastewater issue this past year was the EPA report on Great Bay, what is sometimes referred to as “New Hampshire's inland ocean”. The bay is a critically important nursery for marine life that is now on the state’s list of impaired waters. The EPA is requiring communities on the rivers that feed into the bay to upgrade or build new treatment plants at a cost that could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Federal money for such projects has essentially dried up and the state has not fulfilled its 20 percent share for new projects since before 2008. The state must resume fulfilling its commitments to the towns and we need to move forward with the establishment of a federal water infrastructure trust fund to provide a reliable source of federal assistance for construction and repair of the water infrastructure.
Water Quality. The shear magnitude of the overall water quality debate makes it a more challenging topic to bring to a public forum. This subject brings together the discussions on drinking water and wastewater facilities with the quality of our lakes and streams. It accounts for the integrity of our wetland systems and the protection of our groundwater resources and most of all it formulates the discussions on maintaining the infrastructure we have in place with the considerations of our needs into our future. An important part of the united collaboration is the NH Lakes Management and NH Rivers Management Advisory Committees. They add their collective voices to this important discussion. In recognition of the importance our water resources will be to our future, Governor John Lynch has created a Water Sustainability Commission. Its goal is to define water sustainability in New Hampshire from a broader perspective; how to achieve a sustainable system within 25 years. Formed in April 2011, their final report is due in June 2012.
This year, ASCE published a report on the economic costs of our “Failure to Act” on water and wastewater infrastructure investment (www.asce.org/failuretoact). In 2010, the EPA estimated that more than $91 billion dollars in water infrastructure was needed. By 2020, that need is anticipated to escalate to more than $126 billion dollars. During this period, the lack of investment in our infrastructure is expected to lead to $206 billion in extra costs to our businesses and could result in the loss of nearly 700,000 American jobs. The impacts on jobs are a result of costs to businesses and households managing unreliable water delivery and wastewater treatment services. “Clean water is fundamental to our economy and our health. We depend on water infrastructure, but our drinking water and wastewater systems are aging and overburdened,” said Andrew Herrmann, P.E., ASCE president. “Some of our water systems are 100 years old and in desperate need of replacement. When those systems fail, they disrupt businesses and families and cost all of us more in the end. The need is clearly there.” The cumulative loss in business sales will be $734 billion and the cumulative loss to the nation’s economy will be $416 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The situation will only worsen as the gap between needs and investment continues to grow over time. Average annual losses in GDP are estimated to be $42 billion from 2011 to 2020 and $185 million from 2021 to 2040.
New Hampshire’s economy, job growth, and quality of life are inextricably linked to the quality of our water resources and condition of our water infrastructure. This infrastructure will require substantial investment in the near future to address aging, capacity problems, and federal regulatory issues. The need to develop sustainable funding options to keep costs affordable for taxpayers and rate payers was one of the topics discussed at the “Water Matters” breakfast meeting in Concord.
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