Value of Water Coalition Highlights Innovative Programs
The coalition's new briefing paper, "The New Wave of Water Innovation," touts the programs of five agencies around the country.
The Value of Water Coalition has issued a briefing paper titled "The New Wave of Water Innovation" to highlight creative programs by agencies around the country that are solving problems of scarcity and supply, pollution, and stormwater capture.
"Around the country, water agencies, business leaders, and communities are meeting the [water infrastructure] challenge and implementing ingenious and creative solutions," the paper states. "Water utilities do more than provide an essential 24/7 service--they also serve as economic anchors, environmental stewards, and good community partners."
The agencies featured in the report are:
- The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, which is reducing the amount of polluted water discharged into Lake Erie through construction of tunnels, treatment plant improvements, and green infrastructure projects to reduce overflows from aging sewer systems.
- The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which has undertaken a $4.6 billion upgrade of the water system, with a 20-year program under way to upgrade its sewer system.
- Minnesota's Twin Cities, where water industry leaders, municipal and state officials, and University of Minnesota researchers are working together to position the region as a "global powerhouse for water innovation," according to the paper.
- The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, which has contracted with Black & Veatch and Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies to design and build a nutrient recovery system at the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant and also has partnered with Illinois American Water, the largest investor-owned water utility in Illinois, to reclaim an distribute wastewater to large water users.
- Philadelphia Water, which will invest $1.7 billion in capital projects during the next six years as it carries out its Green City, Clean Water plan.