Yuma, Arizona - The City of Yuma is joining a nationwide effort to raise awareness about the crucial need for investment in water infrastructure, here and across the nation.
The third annual Imagine a Day Without Water is Thursday, Oct. 12. It’s a 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 today 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.
The City has already begun a series of posts on its official Facebook and Twitter accounts, and will devote time during its weekly radio show City News Thursday to the discussion of water infrastructure and the state of municipal water in the city.
“We’re asking people to imagine simple things, like a morning without coffee or a fountain without water,” said City of Yuma Utilities Director Jay Simonton. “Most people experience our water service as something the can always count on. But it takes substantial amount of people, effort and facilities working 24 hours a day, every day, to make that happen.”
“It is easy to take our water infrastructure for granted because it is often underground and out of sight,” added Radhika Fox, CEO of the US Water Alliance and Director of the Value of Water Campaign. “But, the systems that deliver water to and from our homes and businesses require reinvestment and upkeep just like roads and bridges. It is time to take action before we face a crisis.”
The Value of Water Campaign notes that nationwide water infrastructure is aging and in need of investment, having gone underfunded for decades. Drought, flooding, and climate change are stressing 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.
Imagine a Day Without Water tells the stories of challenges faced when water infrastructure fails, but also of the innovative solutions being implemented in communities nationwide.
Despite the vast challenges facing American water 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.