Page 82 - Urban water supply handbook

Source: URBAN WATER SUPPLY HANDBOOK

CHAPTER 3
IMPROVING

URBAN WATER

INFRASTRUCTURE
THROUGH

PUBLIC-PRIVATE

PARTNERSHIPS

Robin A. Johnson
Adrian T. Moore
Reason Public Policy Institute
Los Angeles, California

Water issues facing urban communities are part of a growing worldwide debate
over the challenges of providing safe drinking water supplies and treated waste-
water. While oil was described as the key commodity of the twentieth century,
water is increasingly seen as the substance that will influence the course of human
progress and economic development in the twenty-first century.
Recent issues have elevated the debate over water infrastructure to the top of
the national agenda. President George W. Bush’s proposed changes in acceptable
arsenic levels in drinking water in March 2001 provoked a debate about the proper
balance between regulatory mandates and the costs of compliance. The Water
Infrastructure Network (WIN), a coalition of local elected officials, drinking water
and wastewater providers, state environmental and health administrators, and oth-
ers, proposed a multibillion dollar federal grant program to help finance local
water infrastructure needs. In addition, the Water Infrastructure Caucus was
formed in the U.S. Congress to highlight the need for water and wastewater
improvements.
At the same time, many cities have been turning to the private sector for assis-
tance in meeting water infrastructure needs. A variety of factors are contributing

3.1
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