An op-ed submitted by California Water Association (CWA) President Lawrence M. Morales and published in the Los Angeles Business Journal on September 17, 2018, addressed CWA’s members’ responses to the dire need for infrastructure investments in America. The 2017 Infrastructure Report Card issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers gave America’s infrastructure a “D+” grade and estimated there are 240,000 water main breaks per year in the nation that waste more than 2 trillion gallons of safe drinking water.
The report also indicated that maintaining and expanding drinking water systems in California, alone, will require $44.5 billion dollars during the next 20 years. As a result, Governor Brown signed two bills into law that establish new water-use efficiency standards and require water providers to reduce water loss due to leaks within their systems.
The op-ed detailed how nine CWA member water utilities regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) are “doing their part to confront the infrastructure challenge” by investing more than $645 million in 2017 in water system improvements and upgrades. “By working closely with the CPUC, regulated water utilities are focused on ensuring adequate investments in water systems to ensure more water makes it to the tap.”
