Water water everywhere, But how did it get so cheap? The answer is it's not. This week on Parts Pervilion, we're talking about water infrastructure and how to pay for it from Capitol Hill. Hello, and welcome once again to Parts per Billion, the environmental policy podcast from Bloomberg DNA. I'm your host, David Schultz, and we are coming to you from the Rayburn House Office building on Capitol Hill.
And you know, before you go any further, I'm actually a little thirsty, so I'm going to take a sip from this drinking fountain right here. We tend to take that for granted that water is just going to come out of every fountain that we see, but it actually takes a lot of infrastructure, and that infrastructure takes a lot of money to make that happen. And that's what we're going to be talking about this week in the first in our series on water infrastructure and how to
pay for it. And this week we're going to be talking with Paul Tonko, a Democrat who represents the Albany area in upstate New York, and he serves as the top Democrat on a key environmental sub committee in the House. So why don't we head up to his office and see what he has to say or so, Congressman Tonko, thank you for inviting me here to your office to talk about water. And one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you is because, you know, water
is something that we take for granted. You know, we assume it's going to come out of the tap and we just don't even think about it. But it really takes a lot to make sure that it's an equality that could be drinkable. Water is part of every life, and it's part of every job, and so it's important for us to make certain that our water supplies and the infrastructure delivering to home place and workplace are all in sound working order. So as to the numbers, EPA
does assessments. Their fifth assessment was done in twenty thirteen, and it was a calculus there that from twenty eleven to twenty thirty, the country would require three hundred and eighty four billion dollars with a B in order to meet what is infrastructure demands. I know that that number went up significantly from it when the first assessment was made in nineteen ninety five, which was at one hundred
and fifty seven billion. So the message there to all of us as policy makers and as budget architects is to get on with the business. Because when you back burner it, it doesn't go away. It actually you know, escalates as a price tag. So three hundred and eighty four billion, Where does that money come from? I mean, is that where when I pay my water bill, does it go toward that? Well, it's it's a compilation of sources.
And the SRF, the State Revolving Fund, is part of the Clean Drinking Water Act, and it's the vehicle by which the fifty states receive federal dollars. It has not been reauthorized since its inception, and so for twenty one years now we have not reauthorized. My goal is to reauthorize and enhance the SRF. And the reason for the enhancement is that when you look at all the government contributions towards water efforts, towards construction, operations and maintenance, the
federal government contributes over just over four percent. That is just a drop in the ocean, and it is unacceptable. There needs to be a stronger sense of partnership. I started my public service efforts at a county level back in the mid seventies, and I can tell you it was a much more lucrative revenue stream back then with
the FEDS. And I'll contrast that, if you'll allow me, with roads and bridges, where that four and a half will be generous four and a half to four point seven percent contribution or the FEDS toward water is contrasted with roads and bridges at anywhere from twenty five to thirty percent. So this is a step child outcome for water infrastructure. Well, let's get into the politics of that. In other words, the why. So you know, the federal government has been contributing much more to roads and to
bridges than to water, as you just mentioned. Why do you think that is? I've called it our hidden infrastructure. You know, you stop for a red light under an overpass, and you can browse around, and you'll note that just to the naked eye, there's great deficiency deterioration of that infrastructure. These bits of pipes, which might include bricks that are delivering your system of brick construct wooden pipes, I mean
some wooden pipes. Yes, I did a tour, several tours in my district, and some of the systems are one hundred and forty five years old. So that goes back to the days of Brutherford behays in the White House. Think of it. You trade in your TV screen because it's simply not big enough. You get rid of your iPad or your iPhone because well, new technology is coming
out every month. And you trade in your car because it either has too many miles or you got tired of the collar and worth content to sit with one hundred and forty five year old pipes. It is. It just doesn't begin to make sense. And I think because it's that hidden infrastructure, out of sight, out of mind,
simply cannot be tolerated. Well, right now, you're in the minority party in the House, So how have you been able to gain traction throughout my county tenure as a county board member and throughout the Assembly years for me, which were twenty five in the state of New York, and now in my four plus terms in Congress, I've always reached across the aisle because I think it's important
for us to build consensus in government. And actually we should mention that your counter part on the Environment Subcommittee, Representative shim Kiss, will actually be on a future episode of Parts Pavilion coming up in a few weeks. So that's super and it's a pleasure to work with Congressman shim Kiss. Chairman shim Kiss, And you know, John and I have you know, talked over meals. We go to sit down and talk about the Environment Subcommittee priorities, and
I think that's helpful. And I think recently we held the hearing the subcommittee that reports to the Standing Committee of Energy and Commerce. That Committee on Environment recently held a hearing and it was a very very positive reinforcement by each of the witnesses at the table that more
dollars are needed. Well, we've you know, finally we've talked about the problems with our water infrastructure and the needs that are out there and the small role that the federal government plays and how you would like that role to be much bigger. But where is the money going to come from? Because you know, they're only you know it. Do you increase taxes, do you increase the deficit? Bothes,
where's the funding come from? Well, the President presented his budget to Congress, and I think a budget reflects the values of a community. In this case of a nation, the federal budget reflects our values and the public good. I would suggest that twenty two billion to build a wall that divides us from Mexico, which makes a terrible statement to the world, and a request for fifty four billion for additional spending on war are not the best priorities.
And I think war and a wall should be displaced by health and home. Our civil engineers will remind me that and any of us that it's ten times cheaper to repair these systems before they break. And you know, part of our bill would allow for dollars to be utilized to retrofit systems so that you could pinpoint the weaknesses in the infrastrate structure. That's going to be a savings of ten times. So already you can gain a lot of benefit by implementing the program, passing the bill,
and having the President sign it. Also, we, through leaking pipes on a daily basis, lose seven billion gallons of water per day. So that's why a thing you could drink absolutely and it's an investment, it has a taxpayer commitment because it's treated water. So here's ways to save the taxpayers money and build a system and at the same time establish it, affirm it in an affirmative way. Stake it as a high priority. I think it speaks to our values. I mean, ask the people in Flint
what the price of doing nothing is. Representative Paul Tonko, Democrat from New York, talking about water infrastructure. As we mentioned at the top, this is the first in a series of episodes about the way we get our drink water. In a few weeks, we'll be hearing from Republican John Shimkiss. For more reporting on water quality issues and lots of other environmental topics, visit our website at BNA dot com.
This episode of Parts Pavilion was produced by myself, with help from Jessica Coombs and Rachel Daegel, and with special production help this week from Meririssa Horn. The music for Parts Pavilion is a message by Jazzar. It was used under a Creative Commons Attribution share like license. More information can be found at Better with Music dot com.