Solving the Infrastructure Problem

BALTIMORE AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD (wypr) - The water main break that flooded much of Dundalk two weeks ago, washing out a commuter artery and stranding dozens, is the latest example of the problems outlined in "Drip, Drip, Drip: The Crisis That's Out of Sight and Out of Mind." In the last installment of this special report, WYPR's Joel McCord examines potential solutions.

We began this series with a mantra in the public works world. The massive network of pipes that brings water to your house and takes it away, or funnels storm water from city and suburban streets, is well under our feet, out of sight and out of mind.

Here's another one: We can't do this all by ourselves. Ask Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon.

"What we hope is long term and this is something that mayors across this country talk about on a regular basis through the U.S. Conference of Mayor and the Water Council and others is to get the federal government to understand that that is an area where we got support from we could put our money into other efforts like education, public safety "

Or her public works director, David Scott, who estimates the city needs three-point-five billion dollars to take care of its needs.

"I've talked to other of my peers around the country and we all look at this and we say that we need to all band together and approach the federal government consistently and concisely with a request to invest more in infrastructure."

It's a theme that runs through just about every conversation you have with people responsible for maintaining local water, sewer and storm water systems. They can't raise enough money on their own to fix a problem that's been festering, in some cases, for a century.

"We need to have a sustainable program in place that on a continual basis replaces the pipe as it ages, so that we're pro-active."

Teresa Daniel served as the interim general manager of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which is responsible for water and sewer services in Montgomery and Prince Georges counties.

"We hope that maybe there might be a federal program that would give us that sustained source of revenue, or there might be some alternative, or some other way to get a steady revenue."

Shari Wilson, state Secretary of Environment, says it would cost Maryland 11 billion dollars over the next 20 years to stem a rash of water main breaks, sewage spills and collapsing storm drains. And this comes at the same time that plummeting tax revenues have forced deep cuts in state spending.

But the problem isn't restricted to Maryland.

"It's a national infrastructure problem and President Obama has proposed to triple the water and sewer budget for the country, so we're looking forward to that. But the reality is that even with that tripling of that budget we'll be back to where we were in the early two thousands."

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimated in a report issued last January that governments at all levels would have to spend one-point-two trillion dollars more than what they've already budgeted over the next five years just to make the nation's infrastructure water, sewer, storm water, roads and bridges passable.

David Mongan is the organization's immediate past president and president of Whitney, Bailey, Cox and Magnani, an architectural, construction and engineering firm in Towson.

He says the Obama administration's 787 billion dollar stimulus package passed earlier this year was helpful, but it accounted for only 70 billion dollars of the national infrastructure needs.

"So what we have budgeted plus the 70, we're still faced with about a 1.2 trillion shortfall that should be expended over the next five years to bring the infrastructure up to an acceptable grade of C plus or B minus."

But Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, a Baltimore County Democrat who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, says it isn't so easy to get money out of the federal government, either.

"It just depends on the year. And we were told going in to this appropriations process that we could expect almost a 50-percent cut. The money just isn't there. And we were not going to do; we did not want to continue to add to the deficit."

If the federal government can't close the gap that means local governments would have to raise taxes, water and sewer rates or institute fees to come up with the money.

David Mongan, the Towson engineer, says that can be done.

"We believe, and I think we're supported by studies, that the public, when presented with the facts, are willing, through user fees to pay for infrastructure improvements and infrastructure investment."

The city of Rockville recently instituted fees to raise money for improvements to the local storm water system. City Councilman John Britton said it was difficult, at first, for the voters, and councilman as well, to embrace the concept.

"Here, I think there was a long period of education about the storm water management issues that we have and the connection to how our green areas and our parks look, what we do, how we contribute to the problems of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay; a lot of people understood that."

But that Chesapeake Bay argument went nowhere in Anne Arundel County, which has more shoreline on the bay and its tributaries than any other county in the state. Two years ago, the county council rejected, four-to-three, a move to establish a storm water utility fee.

Councilman Josh Cohen, one of the sponsors, said he didn't think 30 dollars-a-year was particularly onerous, especially considering the money would have gone toward correcting problems that allow pollution to wash into the bay.

"Some of my colleagues just were adamant about not imposing any tax or any fee of any sort; even if it was a dedicated feel that varied based on how much property you had and was allocated specifically for a purpose that people supported."

The American Society of Civil Engineers has put out a five point plan that calls for a greater federal role in solving infrastructure problems, more public-private cooperation and spending more up-front for materials that will last longer and cost less in the long run.

David Mongan says that could be the way out of this morass; we just need to make the decision to do it.