Building blocks | Our infrastructure scores a middling grade, and that needs our attention
On Dec. 10, the Maine section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, or ASCE, unveiled an in-depth assessment of our state’s infrastructure. Called “Report Card for Maine’s Infrastructure,” the document examines 14 aspects of our state’s critical infrastructure and assigns a grade to the condition of the asset. Sounds like a simple exercise, right? Not really.
For more than a year, 29 engineers and industry experts with more than 688 years of combined experience looked at the baseline infrastructure upon which we all depend to keep our homes heated, food imported, clean water flowing and wastewater going.
Using a methodology developed by ASCE for grading national infrastructure, the Maine section of ASCE issued grades ranging from a high of B- (airports, state parks) to a low of D (roads, bridges, contaminated sites, dams and wastewater treatment facilities). The overall average grade was C-.
To get a sense of how substantial the problem is, consider Maine’s water and wastewater treatment systems. Maine has more than 150 public community drinking water systems, which serve about 800,000 people. Keeping those drinking water systems functioning properly over the next 20 years will require an investment of approximately $900 million. Currently, we are spending about $15 million per year against an annual need of about $45 million. Each year that goes by puts our state further and further behind.
The situation on the wastewater side is even worse. In 2004, the most recent year for which data is available, needs exceeded $854 million for control of stormwater runoff and sewage treatment. In November 2008, Maine voters authorized $3.4 million in state bond funds to leverage an additional $17 million in federal grant funds to support the State Revolving Loan Fund. The combined impact of the $20 million investment, which is divided between water and wastewater, is considered minor when compared with the $854 million need for wastewater treatment.
Our piece of the federal stimulus?
In these areas and in 12 more, the ASCE engineers made their assessments. In each case, the reader is left wondering who will pay the bill to fix all of these important facilities. In short, we have been living off of the investment made by our parents and grandparents. Now it is time for us to start paying the bill. While we would all prefer not to pay more, the reality is that unless we pay more for the things we depend on, they will not be there for us to use.
During the past session of the Legislature, significant progress was made in funding repairs for roads and bridges. This winter, the federal government (we taxpayers) is likely to offer an ambitious economic stimulus package designed to help get some of this needed infrastructure rebuilt. Preliminary estimates from Washington reveal a transportation stimulus package of as much as $250 million dollars for Maine. The investment in water and wastewater facilities could exceed $70 million dollars. While $320 million dollars is a lot of money, it is still only a drop in the bucket (excuse the pun) compared to the need.
Here at the state level, the 124th Maine Legislature will likely act on initiatives to create jobs and rebuild infrastructure. As users of infrastructure, we should insist that it is being maintained at the optimum level for safety and cost effectiveness. Today it is difficult to identify any category of infrastructure where we can reasonably state that we are maintaining it in a sustainable manner.
Understanding the problem
Whether funded by federal or state taxpayers, making an investment in our infrastructure at this time will result in significant savings due to aggressive pricing by contractors and tumbling costs of construction materials. Doing so will also allow us to both enjoy the benefit of the economic stimulus and enhance our state’s competitiveness when the economy does rebound.
ASCE estimates that for Maine to adequately fund the existing infrastructure on which we rely, approximately $12 billion dollars will be required over the next decade, or about $4.1 billion more than we are slated to spend if current funding patterns continue. Put another way, for each two dollars we currently spend on infrastructure, we should be spending another one. The Maine section of ASCE has provided a great baseline study of the unmet needs. Whether through the broader application of tolls, user fees or electric rates, we need to get used to the idea of paying more for what we use. We may not want to do it, but the engineers have demonstrated that concrete and steel don’t care about politics or a soft economy. They deteriorate without regard for either.
Let’s hope that we consumers, and our elected officials, are as committed to fixing our infrastructure as our predecessors were to building it.
To read the entire report, visit maineasce.org
John O’Dea is executive director of Associated General Contractors of Maine. He can be reached at editorial@mainebiz.biz.
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