Underground Construction - February 2019 - 10

22nd Annual Municipal Sewer/Water Infrastructure Survey
By Robert Carpenter | Editor-in-Chief

Conﬂicting, Confusing Yet Positive?

FEBRUARY 2019 | UConOnline.com

in the United States for 2019,
representing an overall increase
of 3.7 percent.
The survey polled U.S. municipalities about their top concerns
and issues, 2019 infrastructure
spending plans, and working
relationships with consulting engineers and contractors. This exclusive annual study also provides
detailed insight of America's
cities with information and perspectives on industry topics and
technology. The survey reflects
only information regarding sewer, water and stormwater piping
infrastructure and does not include figures or data on pumping
stations, treatment plants, etc.
Respondents ranged in size

from rural communities of less
than 500, to mid-sized cities, as
well as a representative sampling
of the nation's largest cities.

Funding sources
The bulk of funding in recent
years has been coming from local
or state sources, with limited aid
from federal programs. However, there are signs that more
funding may be slowly developing at the national level. Several
national government-related
positive developments regarding
sewer/water infrastructure funding have been steadily evolving
into fruition.
Infrastructure received a

boost in October when President Trump signed the America's
Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA)
which enjoyed rare, strong bipartisan support. The law had
several provisions supporting,
such as a new Drinking Water
System Infrastructure Resilience
and Sustainability program. This
grant program offers competitive
grants to small or disadvantaged
drinking water systems that
wish to construct projects that
increase the resilience of their infrastructure to a range of natural
hazards.
After the Democrats took over
the House of Representatives in
November, Sen. Chuck Schumer
felt empowered to send a letter

Construction/Rehab Spending
SEWER

WATER

STORM WATER

12
11

2.1
1.5

1.95

3.6

3.7

5.0

5.1

5.0

2018 projected

2.1

1.9

2014

4.4

4.7

4.9

2015

Rehabilitation

4.3

4.8

2014

3.8

4.3

2013

4.6

2013

4.7

3.85

New Construction

5.2

2018 projected

2.0

2019 projected

1.7

3.8

2.2

2018

1.8

3.6

3.2

1.2

2017

1.0

2.1

million

2016

1.1

1.4

898

2017

1.3

1.45

2016

1.0

1.9

2015

2.0

1.3

BILLIONS

As underground sewer and water personnel look to the nearterm outlook for infrastructure
construction and rehabilitation
markets, financial implications
are varied: up, down and somewhere in-between. But, while this
information is always elusive by
nature, overall market indicators
are actually consistent in leaning
towards enhanced spending programs in 2019.
In fact, this is the strongest
across-the-board projections that
the industry has experienced in
many years, with every category
showing growth. The 22nd Annual Municipal Sewer and Water
Infrastructure Survey & Forecast,
conducted by Underground Construction magazine in October
and November of 2018, queried
municipal personnel about a
variety of important subjects,
among them projected spending
for 2019.
The survey results revealed
stronger budgets for many cities.
While still very cautious, municipal personnel appear to believe
that a prolonged, stronger economy - combined with encouraging
developments at the state and
congressional levels - would support increased spending.
New installation of sewer
infrastructure is projected to
increase by 3.7 percent in 2019
to $5.4 billion, with a 3.9 percent
increase ($3.85 billion) for water
construction. Rehabilitation continues to outpace new construction in its growth curve.
Sewer rehab is projected at a
4.1 percent growth in 2019, or
$4.9 billion, with water getting
a 4.5 percent ($2.2 billion) spending boost. All totaled, that equals
projected spending plans for sewer, water and stormwater piping
infrastructure of $19.75 billion

http://www.UConOnline.com

Underground Construction - February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - February 2019