Senate Republicans and Democrats yesterday together called for more funding to repair and upgrade water pipelines, plants and treatment systems across the nation, saying the United States is on the verge of a water infrastructure crisis and that addressing the problem now would create needed jobs.

In a rare display of bipartisan consensus, senators on the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee agreed that water infrastructure was one area, at least, in which more government spending could be used in part to boost the economy.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking member on the subpanel, said he was more comfortable using such investment to jumpstart the economy than the proposed payroll tax cut extension over which congressional Republicans are now battling the White House.

"I guess I'm more intrigued with creating jobs and all with a program that would be infrastructure-improving over a long period of time," Sessions said.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) agreed and said he wished President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package had included more spending on water infrastructure, roads and highways.

"It creates jobs. It repairs public infrastructure. It protects public health and the environment," Inhofe said. "We've gone beyond a time where it's necessary to start working on our infrastructure."

The comments came during a hearing Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Md.) called to highlight the growing gap between what the nation spends and what is needed to maintain the backbone of water and wastewater systems. Vast segments are close to 100 years old and deteriorating.

Greg DiLoreto, incoming president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), cited statistics in a new report by his group saying that if current funding levels persist, the gap between water infrastructure needs and funding will grow to $84 billion by 2020.

The shortfall will cost U.S. businesses $147 billion and the economy 700,000 jobs over the next decade, while forcing families to take a $900-per-year hit in the form of higher water rates and lower wages, he said.

U.S. EPA Director of Wastewater Management Jim Hanlon noted the agency's most recent estimate that national water and wastewater infrastructure would require $635 billion in capital improvements over the next 20 years and cited the challenges posed by population growth and the discovery of new pharmaceutical and chemical pollutants in water, among others.

Hanlon touted EPA's efforts in that area, including the $111 billion loaned out to date to states for wastewater and drinking improvements through EPA-administered state revolving funds.

Those revolving loan funds, recognized to have produced a 2.5-to-1 return on federal investment, were first to go under the knife as the federal government began to drastically cut spending.

At the same time, EPA has continued to prosecute cities whose outdated and overburdened sewage systems tend to overflow and pollute local waterways. Sessions noted that one such order set in motion a $4 billion sewer bond issue in Jefferson County, Ala., that became the center of a local corruption investigation and, eventually, the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said New York faces more than $70 billion in needed work over the next two decades. "We have very grave concerns about how we can get that work done," she said.

Hanlon commended New York's efforts and touted EPA's work to be more flexible in setting deadlines and requirements for cities to perform the expensive upgrades (Greenwire, Nov. 2).

Senators also urged for attracting more private-sector investment, echoing calls from within the Obama administration, including recently by EPA water chief Nancy Stoner (Greenwire, Oct. 24).

Lawmakers yesterday zeroed in on one fix, in particular: lifting the cap on bonds that governments may issue on behalf of private projects, called private activity bonds. Doing so would allow private companies to tap into tax-free financing, which has been lobbied for aggressively by industry (E&E Daily, March 11).

"One way to strengthen the U.S. balance sheet is to take costs off our balance sheet," Sessions said. "Private activity bonds put risk on private activity providers."

A bipartisan bill to lift the state volume cap on private activity bonds (S. 939) was introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and is co-sponsored by Cardin, Inhofe and five others.

"Our nation's water infrastructure is reaching a tipping point," Cardin said. "The path we are on is unsustainable."