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Senate Dems urge Interior to address aging infrastructure issues

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 10, 2008 at 6:11 am

From First Source:

Senate Democrats yesterday renewed their push to require the Interior Department to conduct annual inspections of the nation’s aging water infrastructure.

“Our forefathers did a good job developing infrastructure — things like irrigation projects and water for towns, and dams for flood safety,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) at a Water and Power Subcommittee hearing yesterday. “But now it’s long past time in my opinion that we take a real proactive stand on infrastructure, particularly water infrastructure in this country, and make an investment that I think is in dire need.”

Tester is a cosponsor of S. 2842, which would require the Interior Department to carry out annual inspections of canals, levees, tunnels, dikes, pumping plants, dams and reservoirs under its care. The bill, introduced by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), would also require the agency to publish a national list of those projects most urgently in need of repair.

But Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Robert Johnson said the legislation was too far-reaching.

Given the huge number of dams, levees, and other water facilities overseen by the agency, “we think it would be probably impossible to meet the time frames that are included in here,” Johnson said. With more than 8,000 miles of canals under Reclamation’s inventory, Johnson said it was not realistic or cost-effective to provide the degree of information about each facility that the bill would require.

Read the rest of this story from Reed’s First Source by clicking here.

July 10, 2008 · Filed Under Infrastructure

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