Can you imagine a day without water?
October 12, 2017
The staff and board of Renewable Water Resources joins elected officials, water utilities, community leaders and businesses nationwide to participate in the third annual Imagine a Day Without Water, a nationwide day of education and advocacy about the value of water.
Led by the Value of Water Campaign, hundreds of organizations across the country will host events aimed at raising awareness about the crucial need for investment in our nation’s water infrastructure to ensure that no American community is left without safe and reliable water and wastewater services.
Mary Beth Lampe, Chief Administrative Officer at ReWa, said the agency’s mission is to enhance the community’s quality of life by transforming wastewater into renewable resources through responsible and innovative solutions.
“We are dedicated to achieving our mission vision, and values as an agency on a daily basis,” she said. “We honor this commitment to our community by taking part in this annual campaign.”
Radhika Fox, CEO of the US Water Alliance and Director of the Value of Water Campaign said it is easy to take water and wastewater infrastructure for granted because it is often underground and out of sight. But the systems that deliver water to and from our homes and businesses require reinvestment and upkeep just like roads and bridges.
“We’re thrilled that ReWa is a part of Imagine a Day Without Water. This national day of action educates our neighbors and public officials about the essential role water plays in all of our lives, and the threat that aging and underfunded infrastructure poses to our communities and economy,” Fox said.
The national water and wastewater infrastructure is aging and in need of investment, having gone underfunded for decades, Fox said. Drought, flooding, and climate change are stressing our water and wastewater systems. A single nationwide day without water service would put $43.5 billion of economic activity at risk. In just eight days, a national water service stoppage would put nearly 2 million jobs in jeopardy.
While many of these challenges are regionally-specific and will require locally-driven solutions, reinvestment in our water must be a national priority. Imagine a Day without Water tells the stories of the challenges we would face if our infrastructure failed, but also of the innovative solutions being implemented in communities nationwide.
Despite the vast challenges facing American infrastructure, the good news is that there is great opportunity in investment. A study conducted by the Value of Water Campaign has found that there is over $220 billion in economic activity to be gained nationwide by closing the water infrastructure investment gap. The American public is already widely supportive of implementing these needed investments. Above any other pressing political issue, Americans name rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure as the issue they most want our elected officials to address.
To read more about this initiative, visit www.imagineadaywithoutwater.org.
Locally, ReWa has been a major proponent of maintaining adequate wastewater system infrastructure. The agency will break ground on the $46 million Dig Greenville project in a few months. Dig Greenville is the largest ever underground tunnel project in Greenville history and will feature a roughly one-mile long gravity sewer tunnel that will be 100 feet below ground spanning from Cleveland Park to Hudson Street. To learn more about Dig Greenville, visit www.rewaonline.org/diggreenville.
“ReWa is a forward-thinking company,” Lampe said. “We seek to ensure that our waterways are protected for future generations. We also aim to play a vital role in the success of the Greenville community in more ways than one.”
About Renewable Water Resources
ReWa’s mission is to improve our community’s quality of life by transforming wastewater into renewable resources through responsible and innovative solutions. ReWa serves nearly 500,000 industrial, commercial and residential customers in Greenville County and parts of Anderson, Spartanburg, Pickens and Laurens Counties. For more information about the Agency, visit www.rewaonline.org.
