By: Joey Thomas, Induron Business Development Manager
During the middle of the last decade, water quality became an enormous national topic with its epicenter in Flint, MI. You would’ve had to have been living under a rock to not have noticed the continuous news cycle that documented the seriousness of this issue.
The issue
The crisis originated as a cost savings measure by the City of Flint to offset their struggling economy by switching their water supply from Detroit Water to the now infamous Flint River.
Boil orders, flip flopping of recommendations to drink or not to drink the water, and states of emergency all ensued. The man-made crisis those poor residents had to endure was wrought with dangerous exposures to lead, high levels of bacteria in the water, outbreaks of Legionnaire Disease and other illnesses, and sadly the death of at least a dozen people.
Ultimately, criminal charges and plea bargains that were still being ruled on just last year bookended the disaster that Flint experienced over their water supply.
The importance of water quality
Water quality has been eternally important to life as we know it. For mankind, the infrastructure that provides this necessity has evolved into very complex systems with specific protective needs.
As Americans, we are blessed to have mostly modern, well-engineered systems that deliver water and sewer resources to sustain our lives. However, as evidenced by Flint and many other unfortunate events, continuous maintenance and new infrastructure must be added to keep up with not only growth demands, but the quality of the product being delivered. Of course, all of this comes at a substantial cost to continue providing safe clean water to users across the country.
Funding water infrastructure
Thankfully, legislators have taken more notice in recent years by providing funding to support critical water infrastructure needs across the country. In March, the EPA announced over $775 million from the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act. This investment is slated for upgrades to essential wastewater and stormwater systems.
Just earlier in February, the EPA announced $2.4 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law for the Clean Water State Revolving Funding to upgrade water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. This comes on the back of a similar release of $1.9 billion in May 2022. These releases are part of over $50 billion slated to be delivered for water and wastewater infrastructure over the next several years.
With all this money set to be released specifically for water and wastewater infrastructure, it is now more important than ever for owners and engineers to put together successful plans to maximize the value of these funds. What good will it do to waste these opportunities by not specifying the right components for the job?
The Induron Difference
At Induron, we’ve built a team of experienced professionals in the water and wastewater industry. We have multiple regional managers who have years of experience working for tank manufacturers, tank rehabilitation contractors, and piping manufacturers that are always happy to help come up with a solution specific to your infrastructure needs.
For over 75 years and three generations of family ownership, Induron has continued to pride itself on maintaining exceptional quality and fast, reliable service to our customer partners. Please utilize our experience and integrity to see how Induron can protect your infrastructure with the finest quality products. With a full product line ranging from cementitious epoxy mortars to conventional, ceramic, and 100% solids epoxies and superior urethanes and fluoropolymers for exterior needs, Induron has you covered to protect your assets and help you deliver safe, clean water to your clients!