VWC Announces Infrastructure Week

The Value of Water Coalition announced it will play a leading role in Infrastructure Week 2016 May 16 through May 23.

During Infrastructure Week, local, state, and federal leaders will sound the alarm bell that our economy, jobs, public health and safety are being threatened by a failure to invest in the maintenance and modernization of our nation's infrastructure. A broad coalition of business, labor, and government groups will highlight how specific gaps in infrastructure—from failing water and gas pipes to deteriorating dams, bridges, highways, and public transit systems—matter to all Americans.

Across the country, cities are putting infrastructure dollars to work to revitalize water and wastewater systems. To celebrate and spotlight innovative solutions to the nation's water infrastructure crisis, members of the Value of Water Coalition are hosting a Local Innovators Tour across the country during Infrastructure Week. Participating cities will tell the story about why water infrastructure matters to their communities and the nation, and show how they are securing a sustainable water future.

A series of events May 11 through 23 in Cleveland, Ohio hosted by Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District includes the program "Someone Forgot to Pay America's Water Infrastructure Bill,” an up close and personal sewer walk for media. It will also include a green infrastructure tour for social and traditional media, and elected officials. The Sewer U seminar series is open to the general public.

A press event hosted by American Water and the City of Camden May 17 at 11 .m. in Camden, N.J. will announce a major milestone in a public-private partnership to improve water and wastewater services, while providing workforce training and skill development in the community.

In Alexandria, Va. there will be exclusive behind-the-scenes tours for press and elected officials May 17 and 19 about how Alexandria Renew Enterprises transforms 13 billion gal of wastewater each year into reclaimed water, clean energy and nutrient-rich soil amendment. The tour will also preview the new LEED Platinum Environmental Center and nutrient management facility and adjacent athletic field. 

A day of open houses is scheduled May 21 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at six of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago's (MWRD) six water treatment plants across the Chicago region. The MWRD will offer visitors an exclusive look at its plant operations and also promote storm water management practices by giving away hundreds of free, potted oak tree saplings to restore the region's depleted canopy to help reduce flooding.

A public tour of the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Los Angeles, hosted by LA Sanitation, will spotlight a new advanced water purification facility used to purify recycled water for non-drinking purposes, a significant step toward meeting Mayor Garcetti's goal to reduce the city's reliance on imported water by 50% by 2024. The time and date are not yet determined.

For more information about these events, visit the VWC website or the Infrastructure Week website. Members of the media interested in accompanying the tour at one or more stops may contact Abigail Gardner.

Infrastructure Week 2016 is led by a steering committee consisting of the AFL-CIO, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Building America's Future, Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Value of Water Coalition.

Source: Value of Water Coalition