Water and Sewer Infrastructure: Correcting Underinvestment with Smart Spending
Yeon Joo Kang, Lohita Turlapati, Jack Schwab, Junbo Huang
In the absence of federal funding, most American water and sewer systems face chronic underinvestment that widens inequality and forces inadequate solutions. The American Rescue Plan Act’s 350 billion dollars allocated to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments provide an opportunity to correct this underinvestment and create equity through spending on water and sewer projects. This project surveyed over 100 interim and recovery ARPA plans submitted to the treasury to look at how they incorporated equity into their water and sewer investments. We identify key actions local governments can take in their ARPA plan development to create opportunities for equity and profile four local governments that provide exceptional examples of impactful ARPA investment in water and sewer: Buffalo, NY; Polk County, FL; Geneva, NY; St. Augustine, FL. Based on these cases, we propose a water-planning cycle that provides a roadmap for how cities and counties can develop long-term equitable water plans to leverage ARPA and any future funding opportunities that may arise.
Kang, Y.J., Turlapati, L., Schwab, J., Huang, J. (2022). Water and Sewer Infrastructure: Correcting Underinvestment with Smart Spending, Issue Brief. Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University. Appendix A: Plan Content Analysis. Appendix B: Case Study Profiles.
See Video and Slides of students' presentation at the 2022 APA Virtual National Conference
