By Judy Sheahan
October 17, 2005

Conference President Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill held her first “Cities for a Strong America” Summit on September 30 in Albuquerque (NM). The Summit was held in conjunction with the 2005 Urban Water Summit, hosted by Urban Water Council Chair Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez.

The Cities for a Strong America Summit focused on the major concerns in the area of water including water supply, water and wastewater infrastructure and financing issues, as well as the impact of the hurricanes on the Gulf Coast.

“The purpose of the Cities for a Strong America tour is to focus the nation’s attention on the importance of cities to the national economy and to draw attention to the need to invest in our cities so as to benefit the entire country. The issue of water is a vital component to every community, and that is why I choose it as one of my topic areas,” O’Neill said.

Sugar Land (TX) Mayor David Wallace unveiled the preliminary findings of the 414-city Urban Water Council survey. One of the most disturbing findings of the survey was that 39 percent of the cities surveyed said they would not have an adequate water supply in 20 years. The survey also indicated that cities were consistently investing in an assortment of water needs including aging infrastructure, but very few relied exclusively on the State Revolving Loan Funds.

Building on those findings, Fayetteville (AR) Mayor Dan Coody outlined the need for additional financial resources to be made available to help communities meet the growing burden of replacing decaying infrastructure and funding the mandates placed on cities by federal and state governments.

Experts from research laboratories, the public and private sector, and water associations were on hand to provide the Mayors their thoughts regarding the findings from the survey. Participants included Peter Cook, Executive Director of the National Association of Water Companies, Don Evans of CH2M Hill-OMI, Vincent Tidwell of Sandia National Laboratories, David Chardovoyne, CEO and President of San Antonio Water Systems, Patrick Cairo of United Water, and Bill Malarkey of American Water. They stressed the importance of mayors having a complete plan for dealing with water issues including employing watershed models to help in their decision-making processes, as well as implementing water recycling and reuse activities.

The experts also discussed the difficulties that mayors have related to raising water and sewer rates to pay for the costs of services. They emphasized the need to educate the public so that rising water and sewer rates would not become an election issue and to encourage a better understanding of the costs associated with those services.

Meridian (MS) Mayor John Robert Smith briefed the mayors and summit participants regarding the devastation on the Gulf Coast, where 25-30 foot storm surges acted like 270 mile per hour winds, affecting areas as far as eight miles inland. “Many communities lost 100 percent of their fresh drinking water and sewer systems,” Smith said. “The city of Gulfport had manhole covers blown off with their sewers now are filled with sand that needs to be cleared out.” Smith appealed to the Urban Water Council and Water Development Advisory Board for their technical assistance in helping the communities that were impacted.

“After the hurricanes, the nation’s attention has been drawn to the issue of water, and the mayors stand committed to assist those communities,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill thanked the Urban Water Council and Water Development Advisory Board for their guidance and agreed to continue working together on drawing attention to the critical role that water plays in communities, and the costs associated with meeting those needs.

For complete coverage of the Urban Water Council Summit, visit our website at www.usmayors.org/urbanwater.