All American waters should be safe for swimming. Repairing our infrastructure is the first step

For many of us who grew up, water was a source of formative experiences and precious memories. For me that source was Neshaminy Creek in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As far as waterways are concerned, it is only a modest tributary of the Delaware River; so shallow that an adult can almost always touch bottom. But for my family and a few other locals, the creek (or “crick” as my grandfather called it) was a place to take in the beauty of Pennsylvania’s natural world. As a child, I spent countless hours swimming, fishing, canoeing and just exploring the creek and its wooded shores.

However, special places like this might not be as idyllic as many of us assume; Sewage overflows and runoff pollution from too many paved surfaces often make waterways across America unsafe for swimming. Fortunately, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was recently passed by Congress, has good news for waterways like Neshaminy Creek. The bill provides more funding to stop pollution and rejects efforts to weaken drinking water protections along the way.

Everyone’s cove, lake or beach should be safe for swimming, but all too often, it is not. Each year in the United States, millions of people fall ill while swimming in water contaminated with sewage or runoff from paved surfaces. As we document in our 2021 Safe for Swimming report, more than half of the 3,166 beaches across America we examined were safe for swimming at least one day in 2020. I don’t know how often the creek is tested for pollution, if tested at all. This could easily be one of the many waterways Americans love that are unsafe for swimming.

We have so many dangerous beaches and waterways because America’s wastewater infrastructure is very outdated and in poor condition for too long. Many towns and cities, especially in the northeast, where I’m from, have combined sewer systems, which collect stormwater, domestic sewage, and industrial sewage in a single pipe – and therefore dump the raw sewage into the nearest waterway when it also rains heavily. Additionally, overdevelopment has destroyed large swathes of American wetlands, which can help filter toxins from the water. Development has also increased paved surfaces, which often release harmful substances into our waterways when it rains.

Solving these problems by repairing and improving our infrastructure has long been within our grasp. For example, we have been able to solve pollution problems by restoring wetlands and putting in place green infrastructure such as rain gardens capable of absorbing rainwater. We have also been able to ensure that less wastewater enters our waterways by separating our combined sewer infrastructure and installing filtration systems (such as baffles) to trap solid waste and other pollutants. In addition, in places where the population is growing rapidly, we can expand sewers and improve pumping stations and treatment plants. This could prevent sewage leaks and ensure that we treat the water efficiently before it is released into waterways. But it all takes money. A lot.

That’s why Environment America has called on Congress to take action to clean up our water for years. Since many Americans, like me, don’t realize that their favorite local waterway might be unsafe or what to do about it, Environment America set out to research solutions and raise awareness about this problem. In the past year alone, we’ve released our Path to Cleaner Water and Blueprint for America report, which describes specific ways communities can improve their infrastructure to make waterways safe for swimming. We have rallied businesses and local politicians across the United States to sign letters to Congress in support of big investments in infrastructure. We took their message straight to Capitol Hill by hosting dozens of lobbying meetings with members of Congress and their staff.

While repairing our infrastructure is crucial to cleaning up our waters, it makes no sense to weaken the very clean water protections we fund for. We therefore vigorously and successfully opposed the efforts of water utility lobbyists to insert a loophole in water infrastructure funding bills that would have allowed wastewater treatment plants to continue discharging the same levels. pollution in our waters for twice as long as the Clean Water Act currently allows. And we’ve also pushed back a last-minute effort to revive the dirty water rule, which puts thousands of rivers and wetlands at risk of pollution.

All this work has paid off. Congressional bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs law will allocate $ 11.7 billion over five years in new funding to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF). This fund will provide loans to states to repair and improve their infrastructure to make our waterways safe for swimming. The bill provides for more FSR funding over a five-year period than ever before and represents a 61% increase over the most recent five-year funding period. We thank the Committee Chair and Deputy Chair, Representatives Peter DeFazio from Oregon and Grace Napolitano from California, for their tireless work in bringing this funding to the finish line.

Photo by Ron Otsu via Unsplash

But this must only be the start if we are truly to meet America’s water infrastructure needs. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that it will cost us about $ 271 billion over the next 20 years to restore and improve our drinking water infrastructure to ensure our waterways do not make swimmers sick. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that my home state of Pennsylvania alone will have an $ 8.4 billion wastewater treatment infrastructure funding gap over the next 10 years.

In addition to increasing funding for the SRF, Congress should ensure that 20% of funding goes to green infrastructure such as wetland restoration and rain gardens, and ensure that small, disadvantaged communities have access to green infrastructure. funds in the form of grants so that they can afford the upgrades. and the repairs they need.

We should celebrate our national progress towards repairing our water infrastructure. However, we still have a long way to go before all of our favorite waters (including Neshaminy’s “crick”) are safe for swimming.