$2 Billion Stimulus for Drinking Water Just a Small Portion of Total Activity

Some 900 projects with $2.0 billion in stimulus support are moving forward. But they represent a small portion of the total activity in municipal drinking water. Some of the recent project updates in the McIlvaine North American Public Water Plants and People testify to the larger scale of activity.
Davie, FL is targeting $100 million for a reverse osmosis facility and other upgrades. Palm Beach, FL is starting construction of a $77 million treatment plant. Many other south Florida utilities are building deep water plants to tap into the mineral laden Floridian aquifer.
Earlier this year Austin, TX approved a $508 million water treatment plant. It will need to be completed by 2014 to avoid a crisis.
Rhode Island officials announced recently the awarding of an unprecedented $135 million in low-cost loans to 32 communities to increase drinking-water supplies or develop new pipelines and treatment facilities to reduce water pollution. The city of Pasco, TX needs to invest more than $28 million over the next six years on its water treatment and distribution systems to meet regulatory requirements. Switching Waukesha, WI’s water supply to Lake Michigan rather than groundwater wells would cost $56 million in initial construction costs.
Colorado Springs, CO utilities master plan calls for $500 million in water treatment expenditures. The proposed Fullerton Water Plant in Baltimore, MD would cost $360 million. The Ute reservoir Water system in Quay City, NM is in the design stage at a projected cost of $300 million.
St Louis, MO has incorporated an expenditure of $200 million to treat Columbia Bottoms groundwater in its plans. New York City’s new Croton water treatment plant will cost more than twice the original estimate of $992 million and it will not be finished on time. Bids were just received for the West Haven, CT water treatment plant. The low bid was $44 million. This was $20 million lower than the budget. Ratepayers in Braintree, Randolph, and Holbrook counties in Massachusetts will share a cost of $33-$40 million for a new water treatment plant.