EPA: Florida Needs $16.5 Billion in Drinking Water Infrastructure by 2030

Can we now please talk about drinking water and where the money's going to come from to make sure it's there for our children and grandchildren?

A new EPA survey shows the nation needs $384 billion to assure its water infrastructure is up to par to provide potable water by 2030.

EPAs fifth Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment identifies investments needed over the next 20 years for thousands of miles of pipes and thousands of treatment plants, storage tanks and water distribution systems, which are all vital to public health and the economy. The national total of $384 billion includes the needs of 73,400 water systems across the country, as well as American Indian and Alaska Native Village water systems.

Look at page 18 of the report (page 32 of the PDF). It breaks out how much the EPA says Florida requires in water infrastructure.

In Florida the total amounts to $16.5 billion in drinking water infrastructure. Yet here we are, at a time like this, spending $1 billion on more Everglades projects. Important projects, most of them, but on a list of long-term, life-or-death priorities for the state of Florida?

Who is doing Florida's long-range planning on essential conservation issues? And why is drinking water the priority Florida environmentalists generally forget to mention -- or if they do, they wrap it in an Everglades restoration or land-buy wish list that may or may not serve the needs of more than a portion of the South Florida population.

The EPA assessment nationally shows that improvements are primarily needed in these specific areas:

• - Distribution and transmission: $247.5 billion to replace or refurbish aging or deteriorating lines.
• - Treatment: $72.5 billion to construct, expand or rehabilitate infrastructure to reduce contamination.
• - Storage: $39.5 billion to construct, rehabilitate or cover finished water storage reservoirs.
• - Source: $20.5 billion to construct or rehabilitate intake structures, wells and spring collectors.

Florida's drinking water infrastructure needs legislation and money budgeted followed by a big, happy photo op in which the governor ceremoniously signs the bill restoring drinking water infrastructure -- just as he did for Everglades restoration. Leaders need to show Floridians they know how to preserve life in their state for generations down the road.