e-Newsletter | 03/05/2014

Water, flooding, drought, climate change: these were all mentioned by President Obama in his State of the Union speech on January 28, 2014. Usually, we only hear about roads and bridges when we talk about infrastructure. Thankfully, the President has expanded this discussion by drawing the strong connection between water projects, jobs, and national vitality. If you delve deeper, you will see that:

• One-fifth of the U.S. economy – from agriculture, to mining, manufacturing, and electricity – would grind to a halt without a reliable and clean supply of water.
• An estimated $4.8 trillion in capital investment over the next 20 years is needed to bring water and wastewater systems to a state of good repair and maintain current levels of drinking water service in the United States.
• An investment of $1 billion in water infrastructure yields over 26,000 jobs nationwide.
• The Department of Commerce estimates that each job created in the water and wastewater industry at the local level contributes 3.68 jobs in the national economy.
• Each public dollar spent yields $2.62 dollars in economic output in other industries nationwide.
• By 2020, almost 700,000 jobs will be threatened and $416 billion in national GDP will be lost if water and wastewater infrastructure needs are not addressed.
• Ninety-eight percent of infrastructure investments for water and sewer are paid by local public agencies and their ratepayers.

The professionals in the water industry understand the economic importance of our programs, but usually we see stories about our impacts on the environment or the size of our rate increases. Seldom do we read about the economic development impacts of water and wastewater utilities.

In Southeastern Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) has led the renaissance to naturalize our rivers. MMSD has cleaned 98.5% of all the stormwater and sewage that comes into its system. MMSD has helped to improve our region's quality of life. Annually, MMSD's efforts have generated an average of over 450,000 private sector work hours or over 200 fulltime positions. These are not public sector jobs. Applying the Department of Commerce multiplier of 3.68, MMSD engages over 730 fulltime workers annually. These are well paying jobs, and the majority of them are in the region. We should think about that the next time we hear someone talk about economic development. All our communities are sitting on a huge economic engine that could help our communities climb out of this recession.

Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District

260 W. Seeboth Street | Milwaukee, WI 53204