Aging Water Systems. Across the state, municipalities are seeing their water systems age and fall apart.

•    Pollution, including wastewater, contaminates the state’s lakes, rivers and beaches.
-    37 percent of the state’s river miles is impaired
-    77 percent of its lake water is impaired
-    41 percent of its waters do not support fish consumption
-    Nearly all of the state’s Great Lakes waterways are seriously hampered
-    1,280 beach closure or advisory events lasting six weeks or less occurred in 2006; this is the highest number on record and a significant increase from the 827 such days in 2005

Infrastructure Costs. Cities and towns need to make expensive repairs and upgrades to rejuvenate their vital water infrastructure.

•    $36.2 billion over 20 years just to rejuvenate the state’s municipal wastewater systems

•    While costs skyrocket, federal funding crashes.
-    Since the Clean Water SRF was fully implemented in fiscal 1991, federal contribu     tions to the state’s clean water funding efforts have decreased by 47.8 percent, or 65.9 percent when adjusted for inflation.
-    The state has 148 wastewater projects costing $3.9 billion – more than 53 times its expected federal allotment. Meanwhile, long-term projections list 793 projects worth nearly $11 billion.