How will the US deal with its water crisis?

Jackson, Miss; Benton Harbor and Flint, Mich; Baltimore, Md. These locales and others serve as stark illustrations of the water crisis facing the nation. Poor access to water, contamination and decaying infrastructure impinge upon the health, safety and quality of life of those residing in those communities.

Global warming, climate change and increased natural disasters have triggered water crises across the globe. To cite a few examples, Somalia is suffering a decade-long drought, while monsoons in India and Bangladesh are becoming increasingly more severe. Deforestation is creating “heat islands” around the surrounding lands, hot and arid regions where previously lush green forests occupied the lands.

The U.S. is no exception to severe changes brought about by the crisis over water. For example, Lake Mead, shared by Nevada and Arizona, and Lake Powell, between Utah and Arizona, have been deemed “dead pools.” This means that the water levels in Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam over these two water bodies is so low that hydro-electric power stations cannot function. Such conditions are causing both water and electricity shortages.

According to a 2019 Pew Trusts analysis, water infrastructure in North America is aging and will deteriorate at rapid pace. Most American water infrastructure was built in the 1970s and 1980s and is in dire need of upgrading.

In fact, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has been giving the drinking water infrastructure in the U.S. “D-“ or “D” grades consistently for over a decade. ASCE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that there is a need for an investment of almost $743 billion to improve the water infrastructure that supports $524 billion-worth of economic activity and 289,000 jobs.

Looking at the U.S., the need for investment in the water system is at an unprecedented level. According to McKinsey, approximately 14-18 percent of total daily treated potable water is lost through leaks, with some water systems reporting loss rates exceeding 60 percent. In evaluating financial resources to address this problem, raising rates is not a practical solution since water bills are already high for many U.S. households. Even before COVID-19, one in five households was paying nearly 5 percent of their income on water.

On the positive side, the need for federal investment in water and wastewater infrastructure is widely recognized, and efforts to address it are gaining momentum. The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 includes $55 billion in funding for the restoration and improvement of water and wastewater systems in the United States. Affordability will continue to be a challenge because most federal funding comes in the form of low-interest loans that may need to be repaid.

Although there is still much to be done to improve America’s water infrastructure, significant progress has been made over the last few years, such as an executive order that establishes certain policy protocols to comply with EPA standards and overall sustainability goals while setting up a plan to increase skilled and professional manpower to improve water resource management using modern technologies.

While such policies fall within the purview of the federal government, state and local governments are also active in improving water infrastructure and have initiated similar efforts. New York and California are most notable. Corporations such as GAP, Intel, Microsoft and Merck are also making their products more water sustainable and using modern techniques to recycle wastewater. Starbucks has set an ambitious goal of conserving or replenishing 50 percent of its withdrawn water across all operations by 2030.

Thus, governments and private companies alike have begun to understand their responsibilities and to strive to contribute to improving water resource management.

Water management policies that are highly impactful and sustainable will require close consultation and collaboration between the private and public sectors. Additionally, as with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, both political parties will need to come together in an act of bipartisanship to address and successfully overcome the daunting challenges we will continue to face surrounding water infrastructure.

Jerry Haar is a professor of international business at Florida International University and a fellow of both the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Council on Competitiveness.