Let’s Not Forget Water in the Illinois Capital Bill

Right now in Springfield, Illinois state legislators are working on a capital bill to cope with the state’s infrastructure needs. Roads, bridges, airports and rail are some of the many things that need maintenance and upgrades, and can plainly be seen by the naked eye. But let’s not let “out of sight, out of mind” cause us to forget a critical piece of infrastructure that we all use all day, every day and needs serious attention – our water and sewage infrastructure.

These things may be invisible to us at any given moment, but when rain storms cause sewers and storm drains to back up into our streets and homes, when lead from service lines shows up in our drinking water, and when water bills start creeping up and hitting our pocketbooks harder because of leaks and losses in the system, the need for upgrades becomes immediately clear.

We need our elected officials to step up and be proactive about properly funding and implementing water infrastructure projects. The longer we wait to upgrade our systems, the more Illinois residents are at risk and the more expensive it will be.

Yes, in our state, putting together the funding needed is going to be difficult. If lawmakers are strategic, it is possible to make it work. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the Metropolitan Planning Council both have well-researched ideas on how to do it during this challenging time. The U.S. federal government also has programs such as the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, both of which create federal-state partnerships to address water infrastructure financing needs.

Preparing the workforce to implement the upgrades to our sewer and water infrastructure will be a critical part of any successful infrastructure project. The Clean Water Workforce Pipeline bill introduced by Senator Ram Villivalam (SB2146) and Representative Justin Slaughter (HB3349) will ensure people are trained and ready to go when projects get underway. We should support efforts like this. And the work mustn’t end there.

Maintaining our water and sewage infrastructure is critical for our health, our property values and our individual bank accounts and insurance premiums. As the effects of climate change cause more severe rainstorm events in our region, we must be forward-thinking about what is needed to keep our water clean and our homes dry. The Illinois Senate is hosting public hearings throughout the state through April on infrastructure needs. We must let them know that our invisible infrastructure must be top of mind when putting together a capital plan.