Environmental Engineering Infrastructures Problems and Needs

The ASCE Environmental Engineering Research Council has produced a position paper on the problems and needs of environmental infrastructure in the United States. The status of current infrastructure in the areas of water distribution, wastewater collection, water and waste treatment, air pollution control, and solid and hazardous waste management is addressed. Alternatives for both managing and funding current and future infrastructure needs are discussed and reviewed with emphasis on local, state, and federal options. The council recognizes that while considerable progress has been made in environmental infrastructure development in the past four decades, a number of factors are combining to compromise the future of these successes. The quality of engineering education and the inability of the nation's educational system to produce enough fully qualified civil engineers to deal with the infrastructure problems are addressed. In addition, the effects of institutional disincentives provided by recent environmental legislation and the misallocation of resources by funding programs are recognized. The council also proposes that one of the major problems to be addressed in overcoming infrastructure problems is the adjustment of public opinion.