New Water Resources Infrastructure Projects in Pending Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives is currently debating the Water Resources Development Act of 2018. If the bill makes it through Congress and receives the president’s signature, it will fund a number of water resources infrastructure projects around the country. Many of them are directly or indirectly connected to hurricane risk:

• The most significant project would allocate $2.16 billion to coastal storm protection and environmental restoration from Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay in Texas. These areas suffered substantial damage from Hurricane Harvey, and new development is already taking place, some of it in the flood plain.
• The Savannah Harbor Expansion in Georgia would receive $677.6 million in federal funding to deepen and widen the fastest growing and fourth busiest container port in the country.
• Hawaii’s Ala Wai Canal would receive $199 million in funding for flood risk management. The Ala Wai Canal has flooded multiple times in the last 50 years, with one event in 2004 causing $85 million in damages.
• The Mamaroneck-Sheldrake Rivers in New York would similarly receive $53.5 million in flood risk management funding, after multiple floods in recent decades caused extensive damage and even some fatalities.
• Two Florida counties would receive a combined $31.2 million for hurricane and storm damage risk reduction and beach renourishment, a process that replaces sand that has been lost to erosion.

The last bill, which passed in 2016, included aid for the Flint, Michigan, drinking water emergency. This one does not. While some government officials have declared that situation resolved, many residents and activists argue otherwise.

What do you think?

Is the bill on the right track when it comes to funding water resources infrastructure projects? Hit Take Action, then share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)