| Much of America’s drinking water infrastructure is a result of investments made in the previous century. Jardine Water Purification Plant, which began operation in 1964, is the backbone of Chicago’s drinking water system. Photo © Alex Garcia / Circle of Blue |
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At Dawn of Biden Administration, Opportunities for Water System
President Joe Biden has made his priorities clear: subduing the pandemic, economic recovery, climate action, and racial equity. Now comes the hard part — converting rhetoric into policy and policy into practice.
Climate has received top-billing within the president’s environmental agenda, but water infrastructure and water systems could also see their status lifted. Some observers are hopeful that the new administration and the Democratic Congress will uncork federal water spending that has been steady but flat in recent years. But others, wary of unfulfilled promises, are more cautious in their pronouncements about a big infrastructure package that would increase federal water spending several times over.
Congress, however, will have the opportunity to enact one of several spending options Biden put forward in a $2 trillion climate plan to shore up America's built and natural infrastructure. |
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 | | Belan Ruia makes every drop of water count as she washes dishes in April 2015 in her East Porterville, California, home. Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue |
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| Household water-bill debt in California has soared in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, worsening a water affordability crisis that has hit the state’s low-income residents and communities of color the hardest. A survey by the state’s water regulator estimates that about 1.6 million households have a combined water debt of $1 billion, which is growing by about $100 million each month. The State Water Resources Control Board also found that 155,000 households are deep in debt, owing more than $1,000 to their water departments. Many of those deep-debt households are in poorer areas of southern and central Los Angeles County, the data showed. |
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 | | Flint, Michigan. Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue |
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| Days after Flint residents learned that former Gov. Rick Snyder and other officials would face criminal charges for their role in the water crisis that poisoned Flint residents, news emerged that Snyder would face two misdemeanors for, in the words of Flint resident Paula Stephenson, “destroying us.”
Other former officials face more serious charges. Nick Lyon, the former director of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, faces nine counts of involuntary manslaughter. So does former Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells. Former Snyder aide Rich Baird, former chief of staff Jarrod Agen, and former Flint emergency managers Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose all face felonies, too.
This story was republished as part of the Great Lakes News Collaborative. The collaboration includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. |
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The Tuni glacier, a formerly vast piece of ice that rises over the Bolivian capital of La Paz as a critical water source, is disappearing faster than predicted, reported Reuters earlier this month. The resulting melt will lead to further water shortages in the capital region, where water is already scarce. While scientists initially anticipated that the glacier would last until 2025, the ice field is now less than a square kilometer and is expected to vanish quickly. Tuni has been shrinking since the Little Ice Age, a period of cooling that began in the 14th century, but more recent climate change events, drought, and torrential rainfall in Bolivia have accelerated the process. |
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For the news you need to start the week, tune into “What’s Up With Water” fresh on Monday’s on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud. Featured coverage from this week’s episode of What’s Up With Water looks at: - In the United States, officials in Michigan will face criminal charges for their alleged role in the lead crisis in the city of Flint.
- In China, dangerous levels of PFAS chemicals were found in the drinking water of over 98 million people living across several cities.
- In British Columbia, Canadian officials are celebrating a regional wastewater treatment facility for the coastal city of Victoria and its neighbors.
This week Circle of Blue reports on a last-minute rule change from the Trump administration – one that affects development around waterways. |
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| From Circle of Blue's Archives: |
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 | | Community members in Flint, Michigan, gather on February 6, 2016, to discuss the lead contamination crisis. Photo @ J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue |
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| When President Joe Biden took office this week, the change in U.S. leadership signaled a clear break with the previous four years of the Trump administration, especially for environmental policy. In December, Circle of Blue reporter Brett Walton hosted a roundtable discussion with three experts about what a Biden administration might mean for federal water policy. |
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