You are here:
URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE RESEARCH PLAN WATER AND WASTEWATER ISSUES
Citation:
Tafuri*, A N. AND J J. Yezzi* Jr. URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE RESEARCH PLAN WATER AND WASTEWATER ISSUES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 1998.
Impact/Purpose:
information.
Description:
As we approach the twenty-first century, we should be considering where we are today and where the consequences of our actions will place us tomorrow. This is especially true in the management of our aging and growing infrastructure. Infrastructure facilitates movement of people and goods, provides adequate safe water for drinking and other uses, provides energy where it is needed, removes wastes, and generally supports our economy and quality of life. The demand for infrastructure worldwide is huge, approximating $3 trillion annually. Many areas of the world are currently experiencing rapid growth, with the associated need for their infrastructure to support that growth. At the same time, developed areas are replacing old and obsolete infrastructures to meet existing and future requirements. Besides the need to address the immediate problems associated with infrastructure, there is a need to make fundamental changes in the way infrastructure is designed, built, utilized, maintained and renewed if we are to achieve economic growth while preserving and enhancing environmental quality. In 1988, the National Council on Public Works Improvement, aCongressionally mandated special commission, issued a report on the state of this country's infrastructure. The Commission looked at eight infrastructure areas: highways, mass transit, aviation, water resources, water supply, wastewater, solid waste, and hazardous waste. Based on the Council's findings, it is estimated that this nation would have to invest over $100 billion each year in new and existing public works. Obviously, a tremendous effort must be put forth to ensure that these resources are spent on cost-effective, technologically sound remedies that will meet national environmental goals. A 1990 report by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment identified environmental infrastructure problems in the areas of wastewater, drinking water and municipal solid waste and evaluated the impacts of these problems on local communities. As is apparent, a community's environmental infrastructure needs are varied and interrelated. Communities may have the same generic needs (providing safe drinking water, protecting receiving waters, environmentally acceptable disposal of solid waste, etc.) and associated problems, however, the solutions to these problems can vary greatly with community size because smaller communities generally lack the financial (lower per-capita income, smaller tax base, etc.) and personnel resources (operation, maintenance, management, etc.) of larger ones, forcing the use of lower-cost, less-complex technologies. A community's first step to providing quality environmental services is to identify and characterize its environmental infrastructure components. In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) Civil Engineering Research Foundation conducted a survey of approximately 800 municipalities, nationwide. The purpose of the survey was to evaluate infrastructure conditions and the most critical and frequent problems and needs for seven infrastructure systems: buildings, transportation, solid waste, hazardous waste, power & energy, wastewater, and water resources. The results of the survey were analyzed and prioritized resulting in a list of specific problems and needs, many identified as not being adequately addressed by current research (Table 1). Appendix A provides a brief discussion of select national priority items in Table 1 that relate to EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) activities (asterisked items). This research plan will address many of the above nationallyidentified priority infrastructure issues, as they relate to the mission of NRMRL's Water Supply and Water Resources Division (WSWRD). It presents a focused approach, for water and wastewater issues, emphasizing "retrospective" activities associated with aging and obsolete infrastructures and "prospective" activities associated with the development of sustainable technologies forfuture growth considering the preservation and enhancement of environmental quality. Near-term research activities could be initiated at NRMRL's existing multi-million dollar Urban Watershed Research Facility (UWRF), located in Edison, NJ; Appendix B provides a brief description of the facility. This facility is currently undergoing extensive modification, including the upgrading of experimental conveyance and storage systems. The enhanced facility will be capable of supporting controlled-condition experiments on simulated urban infrastructure problems; principally, those problems associated with water supply and wastewater issues.